Crossword Genius

Enliven a friend from Ulster? (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

animate

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'enliven' is the definition.
(synonyms)

'a friend from ulster?' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'a' could be 'an' and 'an' is present in the answer.
'friend' could be 'mate' (mate is a kind of friend) and 'mate' is found in the answer.
A single letter 'i' remains which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for animate that I've seen before include "Instil life into - say cartoon" , "Enliven - draw for cartoon" , "Give inspiration to" , "Put life into as with cartoon" , "Enliven, inject energy into" .)

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