Woman embracing director in front of old firedog (7)
I believe the answer is:
andiron
'firedog' is the definition.
('andiron' can be a synonym of 'firedog')
'woman embracing director in front of old' is the wordplay.
'woman' becomes 'ann' (**).
'embracing' indicates putting letters inside.
'director' becomes 'dir'.
'in front of' indicates taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'old' is 'o'.
'dir'+'o'='diro'
'ann' placed around 'diro' is 'ANDIRON'.
(Other definitions for andiron that I've seen before include "one of two keeping fire going" , "Dog" , "Logs support" , "Stand by the fire" , "bar near fire" .)