Sounding hoarse, work for me can really be a drag (5)
I believe the answer is:
husky
'sounding hoarse work' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't understand how one could define the other.
'me can really be a drag' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'me' could be 'us' ('us' can mean 'me' in some dialects) and 'us' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
'for' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for husky that I've seen before include "Arctic sled dog" , "hampered by frog?" , "sounding a little hoarse" , "Northern drag performer" , "Big, strong; dog" .)