Legal establishments showing limits to imagination nonetheless (4)
I believe the answer is:
inns
'legal establishments' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both man-made objects as well as being plural nouns.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'limits to imagination nonetheless' is the wordplay.
'limits to' suggests removing the centre (the letters which limit the word).
'nonetheless' becomes 'ns' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'imagination' with its middle removed is 'in'.
'in'+'ns'='INNS'
'showing' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for inns that I've seen before include "Country taverns" , "Bars" , "Drinking places (frequented by barristers?)" , "drinking haunts" , "Old-time hostelries" .)