Southern term for steel (5)
I believe the answer is:
sword
'steel' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'southern term' is the wordplay.
'southern' becomes 's' (abbreviation).
'term' becomes 'word' (I've seen this before).
's'+'word'='SWORD'
'for' is the link.
(Other definitions for sword that I've seen before include "used for fencing" , "Sharp-edged weapon" , "Two-edged weapon" , "Weapon of steel" , "Long-bladed weapon" .)