Ultimately, one putting on three increasingly larger sizes before “Large” makes sense (5)
I believe the answer is:
smell
'sense' is the definition.
(smell is a kind of sense)
'ultimately one putting on three increasingly larger sizes before large' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'one' could be 'me' (a setter might use 'one' to humourously mean 'me') and 'me' is located in the answer.
'large' could be 'l' and 'l' is present in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'makes' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for smell that I've seen before include "Hum" , "stink" , "Unpleasant odour" , "Sniff" , "Scent" .)