Staff held in a sort of respect (7)
I believe the answer is:
sceptre
'staff' is the definition.
(sceptre is a kind of staff)
'a sort of respect' is the wordplay.
'a sort of' is an anagram indicator.
'respect' is an anagram of 'SCEPTRE'.
'held in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for sceptre that I've seen before include "Rod of office" , "Queen's staff" , "Royal baton" , "Ruler's staff" , "Respect (anag) -- symbol of ruler's authority" .)