Close to breathless till it may be produced at last (4)
I believe the answer is:
shoe
'last' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'close to breathless till' is the wordplay.
'close to' indicates one should take the final letters (the 'close' to the word).
'till' becomes 'hoe' (hoeing is a kind of tilling).
The final letter of 'breathless' is 's'.
's'+'hoe'='SHOE'
'it may be produced at' acts as a link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for shoe that I've seen before include "Slip-on or lace-up?" , "Oxford, say" , "Footwear - playing-card dispenser - part of a brake" , "Last product" , "Work as a farrier" .)