Southern sailor gets shiner (4)
I believe the answer is:
star
'shiner' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'southern sailor' is the wordplay.
'southern' becomes 'S' (abbreviation).
'sailor' becomes 'tar' (slang term for a sailor).
's'+'tar'='STAR'
'gets' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for star that I've seen before include "Celebrated performer" , "Twinkling celestial body" , "Five-pointed figure" , "feature in film" , "Celebrity in the world of entertainment" .)