Vacate the French avenue (5)
I believe the answer is:
leave
'vacate' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'the french avenue' is the wordplay.
'the french' becomes 'le' ('the' in French).
'avenue' becomes 'ave'.
'le'+'ave'='LEAVE'
(Other definitions for leave that I've seen before include "Permission (to take holidays?)" , "Clearance" , "Relinquish - holiday" , "Withdraw - permission - to go - holiday" , "Depart, go" .)