Excessively large spade, for example (4)
I believe the answer is:
tool
'spade for example' is the definition.
(spade is a kind of tool)
'excessively large' is the wordplay.
'excessively' becomes 'too' ('too' can be a synonym of 'excessively').
'large' becomes 'l'.
'too'+'l'='TOOL'
(Other definitions for tool that I've seen before include "Person exploited" , "Working instrument" , "Weapon" , "Gun" , "Appliance" .)