They're under orders not to strike matches (9)
I believe the answer is:
celibates
'matches' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both people as well as being plural nouns.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I don't see?
'they're under orders not to strike' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'strike' could be 'bat' and 'bat' is found in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for celibates that I've seen is " unmarried men?".)