Crossword Genius

What you might call an expensive woman (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

dear

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'what' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adverbs.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I don't see?

'you might call an expensive woman' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'an' could be 'a' and 'a' is present in the answer.
'woman' could be 'de' and 'de' is present in the answer.
A single letter 'r' remains which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for dear that I've seen before include "Treasured" , "Highly priced" , "polite form of address" , "address for partner" , "Needing plenty of bread" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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