Figure working in joint (5)
I believe the answer is:
tenon
'joint' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'figure working' is the wordplay.
'figure' becomes 'ten' (I've seen this before).
'working' becomes 'on' (on can mean working or activated).
'ten'+'on'='TENON'
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for tenon that I've seen before include "Part of joint that fits in mortise" , "Piece of wood fitting into a mortice" , "Type of hacksaw" , "Mortise counterpart" , "joiner" .)