A little meal filling up an outcast (7)
I believe the answer is:
ishmael
'outcast' is the definition.
(I know that outcast can be written as Ishmael)
'a little meal filling up an' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'a' is found in the answer.
'little' could be 'l' (abbreviation for little) and 'l' is found in the answer.
'an' could be 'i' (Roman numeral for one) and 'i' is found within the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for ishmael that I've seen before include "Abraham's son; Moby Dick narrator" , "'Call me . . . . . . .' (first line of Moby Dick)" , "Narrator of Moby-Dick" , "Moby Dick's narrator, and Abraham's eldest son" , "patriarch" .)