Somehow baste animal (5)
I believe the answer is:
beast
'animal' is the definition.
('beast' can be a synonym of 'animal')
'somehow baste' is the wordplay.
'somehow' indicates an anagram.
'baste' with letters rearranged gives 'BEAST'.
(Other definitions for beast that I've seen before include "Monstrous person" , "Inhumanly cruel person" , "Wild animal" , "Inhuman person" , "rotter" .)