Starting with fifty, he returned with nine (5)
I believe the answer is:
lenin
'starting with fifty he returned with nine' is the definition.
The answer is a person as well as being a singular noun. This is suggested by the definition.
'starting with fifty he returned' is the wordplay.
'starting with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'fifty' becomes 'l' ('L' can be a synonym of 'fifty').
'he' becomes 'nine' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'returned' is a reversal indicator.
'nine' backwards is 'enin'.
'l' next to 'enin' is 'LENIN'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for lenin that I've seen before include "Linen for Communist" , "Communist leader" , "Revolutionary man" , "Leader of the Russian Revolution" , "Early Soviet leader" .)