Humble hairdresser pedantically lifting covers (7)
I believe the answer is:
depress
'humble' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both to do with human feelings as well as being verbs in their base form.
Maybe there's a link between them I don't understand?
'hairdresser pedantically lifting covers' is the wordplay.
'covers' says the answer is hidden in the clue (I've seen 'covered' mean this (the answer is covered up by the clue)).
'lifting' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'sserped' is hidden in the letters of 'hairdresser pedantically'.
'sserped' in reverse letter order is 'DEPRESS'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for depress that I've seen before include "Make dejected" , "Make downhearted" , "Push down or lower the spirit" , "Push, get, down" , "Bring down" .)