Took a hard look at various trades (6)
I believe the answer is:
stared
'took a hard look' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both related to bodily activities as well as being past participle verbs.
Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?
'various trades' is the wordplay.
'various' is an anagram indicator.
'trades' with letters rearranged gives 'STARED'.
'at' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for stared that I've seen before include "Looked at long and fixedly" , "Treads (anag)" , "Gaped" , "Look fixedly at" , "Subjected to prolonged gaze" .)