Having spirit, the chaps may be hot at their job (7)
I believe the answer is:
firemen
'be hot at their job' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'having spirit the chaps' is the wordplay.
'having spirit' becomes 'fire' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'the chaps' becomes 'men' (chap means a man).
'fire'+'men'='FIREMEN'
'may' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for firemen that I've seen before include "Their job is to extinguish conflagrations" , "Stokers" , "Hose wielder" , "They fight conflagrations" .)