Burn with very little smoke and turn to dust (8)
I believe the answer is:
smoulder
'burn' is the definition.
(smouldering is a kind of burning)
'very little smoke and turn to dust' is the wordplay.
'very little' suggests taking the first letters.
'and' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'turn to dust' becomes 'moulder'.
The initial letter of 'smoke' is 's'.
's'+'moulder'='SMOULDER'
'with' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for smoulder that I've seen before include "Burn without flames" , "Burn slowly, secretly" , "Burn slowly with smoke but no flame" , "Burn slowly without flame" , "fester" .)