Take it - it's a soft toy (4)
I believe the answer is:
bear
'take it' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'a soft toy' is the wordplay.
'a soft' becomes 'b' (black, as opposed to H for hard in pencils).
'toy' becomes 'ear' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'b'+'ear'='BEAR'
'it's' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for bear that I've seen before include "Relating to charged particles" , "Give birth to; animal" , "Exhibit" , "Large, shaggy-coated mammal" , "Falling market for large furry animal" .)