Wife to tear off to get a drink (5)
I believe the answer is:
water
'a drink' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'wife to tear off' is the wordplay.
'wife' becomes 'w'.
'to' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'off' indicates an anagram.
'tear' is an anagram of 'ater'.
'w'+'ater'='WATER'
'to get' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for water that I've seen before include "Give fluid to (plants)" , "Diamond quality" , "Classical element" , "Gem quality; fluid" , "Transparent liquid" .)