I wait quaking with 'Beth Fry (9)
I believe the answer is:
whitebait
'fry' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'i wait quaking with 'beth' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'i' could be 'a' and 'a' is found in the answer.
an anagram of 'with' is 'whit' which is within the answer.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for whitebait that I've seen before include "Small edible fish" , "Small fried fish" , "Fish eaten in quantity" , "Small fry as food" , "Small silvery fish, the fry of herring" .)