Maybe a pint of emulsion (5)
I believe the answer is:
paint
'emulsion' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?
'maybe a pint' is the wordplay.
'maybe' indicates anagramming the letters.
'a'+'pint'='apint'
'apint' is an anagram of 'PAINT'.
'of' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for paint that I've seen before include "Be an artist" , "Colouring matter for decoration" , "Pigment" , "Use a brush on canvas" , "Vividly describe; cosmetic (joc.)" .)