Stood our ground in the open (8)
I believe the answer is:
outdoors
'the open' is the definition.
('outdoors' can be a synonym of 'open')
'stood our ground' is the wordplay.
'ground' is an anagram indicator (grind the letters ).
'stood'+'our'='stoodour'
'stoodour' with letters rearranged gives 'OUTDOORS'.
'in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for outdoors that I've seen before include "Not in a building" , "Is that great?" , "Al fresco" , "In the open air" , "Alfresco" .)