Tipped the French worker (5)
I believe the answer is:
leant
'tipped' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'the french worker' is the wordplay.
'the french' becomes 'le' ('the' in French).
'worker' becomes 'ant' (worker is a type of ant).
'le'+'ant'='LEANT'
(Other definitions for leant that I've seen before include "Advanced" , "bent over" , "Slanted" , "pressed on" , "Relied (on); inclined" .)