Wife takes a long time to get pay (5)
I believe the answer is:
wages
'pay' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'wife takes a long time' is the wordplay.
'wife' becomes 'w'.
'takes' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'a long time' becomes 'ages' (I've seen this before).
'w'+'ages'='WAGES'
'to get' is the link.
(Other definitions for wages that I've seen before include "Carries on" , "Worker's income" , "Salaries" , "Reward" , "Earnings for work - or of sin" .)