She's superior to many a layabout! (4)
I believe the answer is:
lady
'layabout' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?
'she's superior to many a' is the wordplay.
'she's superior' becomes 'dy' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'to' says to put letters next to each other (I've seen this in other clues).
'many' becomes 'l'.
'l'+'a'='la'
'dy' after 'la' is 'LADY'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for lady that I've seen before include "Female peer" , "Luck, for example" , "Lord's partner" , "Wife of gentleman" , "See 7" .)