Uniform soldier eating large fruit (4)
I believe the answer is:
ugli
'fruit' is the definition.
(ugli fruit is a kind of fruit)
'uniform soldier eating large' is the wordplay.
'uniform' becomes 'U' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'soldier' becomes 'gi' (GI can mean a US soldier).
'eating' is an insertion indicator.
'large' becomes 'l'.
'gi' going around 'l' is 'gli'.
'u'+'gli'='UGLI'
(Other definitions for ugli that I've seen before include "Hybrid fruit, sounds nasty" , "Trademarked hybrid citrus fruit" , "Citrus fruit cross (which sounds offensive!)" , "Hybrid of tangerine and grapefruit" , "Plain-sounding fruit" .)