Villain beat taking current for hanging (7)
I believe the answer is:
curtain
'hanging' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'villain beat taking current' is the wordplay.
'villain' becomes 'cur'.
'beat' becomes 'tan' (I've seen this before**).
'taking' is an insertion indicator.
'current' becomes 'i' (symbol for electric current).
'tan' enclosing 'i' is 'tain'.
'cur'+'tain'='CURTAIN'
'for' is the link.
(Other definitions for curtain that I've seen before include "See 1" , "Window drape" , "Hanging drapery for window" , "Hanging, window cover" , "Window material" .)