Hold dear companion quietly leaving to die (7)
I believe the answer is:
cherish
'hold dear' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'companion quietly leaving to die' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'companion' could be 'ch' (Companion of Honour) and 'ch' is located in the answer.
'quietly' could be 'sh' and 'sh' is found within the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for cherish that I've seen before include "Hold dear, treasure" , "Protect and care for lovingly" , "Hold dear, be fond of" , "Hold dear, keep in one's heart" , "Hold dear, value greatly" .)