Animals about a road are easily frightened (7)
I believe the answer is:
cowards
'are easily frightened' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.
'animals about a road' is the wordplay.
'animals' becomes 'cows' (cow is a kind of animal).
'about' indicates putting letters inside.
'road' becomes 'rd' (abbreviation).
'a'+'rd'='ard'
'cows' going around 'ard' is 'COWARDS'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for cowards that I've seen before include "they show fear" , "''Thus conscience doth make ... of us all'' (Hamlet)" , "People lacking courage" , "Shakespeare: ''. . . . . . . die many times before their deaths''" .)