Spoke digressively of an animal that suffered (7)
I believe the answer is:
rambled
'spoke digressively' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.
'an animal that suffered' is the wordplay.
'an animal' becomes 'ram' (male sheep).
'that suffered' becomes 'bled' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'ram'+'bled'='RAMBLED'
'of' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for rambled that I've seen before include "Walked about aimlessly" , "Meandered, wandered about" , "Moved about aimlessly" , "Wandered about, walking or talking" , "didn't walk straight" .)