Cats utter them in many ways (4)
I believe the answer is:
mews
'cats utter' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'them in many ways' is the wordplay.
'them' becomes 'w' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'many' becomes 'm' (Roman numeral for a thousand).
'ways' becomes 'es' (east and south - two directions).
'm'+'es'='mes'
'w' going within 'mes' is 'MEWS'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for mews that I've seen before include "Street of homes converted from stables" , "Maybe little more than an alley" , "cat's cries" , "Residential street once used for stabling" , "Cries like a gull" .)