Stick close by river (6)
I believe the answer is:
endure
'stick' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'close by river' is the wordplay.
'close' becomes 'end' (I've seen this in another clue).
'by' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'river' becomes 'Ure' (river in Yorkshire).
'end'+'ure'='ENDURE'
(Other definitions for endure that I've seen before include "Suffer, tolerate" , "Bear without giving up" , "Put up with - last" , "Suffer or undergo" , "Last or suffer patiently" .)