Stir up former partner with quote (6)
I believe the answer is:
excite
'stir up' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'former partner with quote' is the wordplay.
'former partner' becomes 'ex'.
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'quote' becomes 'cite' (synonyms).
'ex'+'cite'='EXCITE'
(Other definitions for excite that I've seen before include "Turn on" , "Provoke, animate" , "Get worked up" , "Stir up, stimulate" , "Inflame or stimulate" .)