Whip caught on short thick cord (4)
I believe the answer is:
crop
'whip' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'caught on short thick cord' is the wordplay.
'caught' becomes 'c' (cricket abbreviation).
'on' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'short' means to remove the last letter.
'thick cord' becomes 'rope' (I've seen this before).
'rope' with its final letter taken off is 'rop'.
'c'+'rop'='CROP'
(Other definitions for crop that I've seen before include "Plant grown commercially" , "Hairstyle; gullet pouch" , "Expanded part of bird's throat" , "Hairstyle; bird's pouch" , "Whip with loop instead of last" .)