Tying up affair by the end of four months (8)
I believe the answer is:
berthing
'tying up' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both to do with contact as well as being present participle verbs.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'affair by the end of four months' is the wordplay.
'affair' becomes 'thing' (synonyms).
'by' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'the end of four months' becomes 'ber' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'thing' after 'ber' is 'BERTHING'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for berthing that I've seen before include "Coming into dock" , "Tying up a boat at a dock" .)