Vote against acquiring gong, largely for religious festival (4,3)
I believe the answer is:
name day
'religious festival' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both related to time as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'vote against acquiring gong largely' is the wordplay.
'vote against' becomes 'nay' (I've seen this in another clue).
'acquiring' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'gong' becomes 'medal' (gong can mean a prize or medal).
'largely' means to remove the last letter (most but not all of the letters).
'medal' with its final letter taken away is 'meda'.
'nay' placed around 'meda' is 'NAME-DAY'.
'for' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for name day that I've seen before include "Any dame (anag.)" , "Feast of one's personal saint" , "ticket to stock exchange?" , "Say when" , "Annual celebration" .)