Ken short of stature? (13)
I believe the answer is:
understanding
'ken' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'short of stature?' is the wordplay.
'short of' becomes 'under' (eg short of 10 means under 10).
'stature?' becomes 'standing' (stature is a kind of standing).
'under'+'standing'='UNDERSTANDING'
(Other definitions for understanding that I've seen before include "compassionate" , "Knowledge" , "Getting" , "Compassion" , "Gathering" .)