The man waved naked to get lift (5)
I believe the answer is:
heave
'lift' is the definition.
(heaving is a kind of lifting)
'the man waved naked' is the wordplay.
'the man' becomes 'he'.
'naked' means to look at the middle letters.
The middle letters of 'waved' are 'ave'.
'he'+'ave'='HEAVE'
'to get' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for heave that I've seen before include "Pull hard; (sea) swell" , "past Hove" , "Move with an effort" , "Express" , "Pull - retch" .)