Left after seeing country gent sheltering Republican hoard (8)
I believe the answer is:
squirrel
'hoard' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'left after seeing country gent sheltering republican' is the wordplay.
'left' becomes 'l' (common abbreviation).
'after' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'seeing country gent' becomes 'squire' (I've seen this in another clue).
'sheltering' is an insertion indicator.
'republican' becomes 'r' (abbreviation).
'squire' enclosing 'r' is 'squirre'.
'l' put after 'squirre' is 'SQUIRREL'.
(Other definitions for squirrel that I've seen before include "Bushy-tailed tree dweller, red or grey" , "Timmy Tiptoes, for example" , "Tree-climbing rodent which hoards nuts" , "Arboreal rodent with long bushy tail" , "- Nutkin (Potter)" .)