Veiled woman stripped off to be free (3)
I believe the answer is:
rid
'be free' is the definition.
(to be free of something is to be rid of it)
'veiled woman stripped off' is the wordplay.
'veiled' becomes 'ri' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'woman' becomes 'Adi'.
'stripped off' says to take the centre (the outer letters are stripped off).
The middle of 'adi' is 'd'.
'ri'+'d'='RID'
'to' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for rid that I've seen before include "Lose, shake off" , "Throw off, unburden" , "Free (someone of something unwanted)" , "Free, deliver, clear" , "Disabuse" .)