Young girl or dame in distress? (6)
I believe the answer is:
maiden
'young girl' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'dame in distress?' is the wordplay.
'distress?' indicates anagramming the letters (I've seen 'distress' mean this).
'dame'+'in'='damein'
'damein' with letters rearranged gives 'MAIDEN'.
'or' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for maiden that I've seen before include "No-score over" , "Single" , "Damsel" , "First (speech)" , "To the rear (of a ship)" .)