Brought about by being bored, with nothing to lose? (4)
I believe the answer is:
bred
'brought about' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'being bored with nothing to lose?' is the wordplay.
'being bored' suggests removing the centre (bore can mean to hollow out).
'with nothing' becomes 'empty-handed' (I've seen this before).
'to' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other) (I've seen this in other clues).
'lose?' becomes 'br' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'emptyhanded' with its middle taken out is 'ed'.
'ed' put after 'br' is 'BRED'.
'by' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for bred that I've seen before include "Brought up, propagated" , "Brought forth" , "(Well) brought up" , "Propagated, raised" , "Multiplied" .)