Thus gets wife an animal (3)
I believe the answer is:
sow
'an animal' is the definition.
(female pig)
'thus gets wife' is the wordplay.
'thus' becomes 'so' (synonyms).
'gets' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'wife' becomes 'w' (abbreviation).
'so'+'w'='SOW'
(Other definitions for sow that I've seen before include "Female pig" , "Female badger" , "She lives in 11" , "Plant seed in soil" , "farm animal" .)