Wild crane with a beautiful greyish gloss (5)
I believe the answer is:
nacre
'a beautiful greyish gloss' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I cannot see how one could define the other.
'wild crane' is the wordplay.
'wild' is an anagram indicator.
'crane' anagrammed gives 'NACRE'.
'with' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for nacre that I've seen before include "Pearl's mum" , "inside of shell" , "valuable material" , "Mother-of-pearl from shellfish" , "Mother of pearl" .)