Yank throttling husband is ruffian (4)
I believe the answer is:
thug
'is ruffian' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'yank throttling husband' is the wordplay.
'yank' becomes 'tug' (I've seen this before).
'throttling' is an insertion indicator.
'husband' becomes 'h'.
'tug' enclosing 'h' is 'THUG'.
(Other definitions for thug that I've seen before include "Hooligan" , "Gorilla" , "Violent ruffian" , "A vicious or brutal ruffian" , "Heavy" .)