Make secure by holding drink back (5)
I believe the answer is:
belay
'make secure' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'by holding drink back' is the wordplay.
'holding' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'drink' becomes 'ale' (I've seen this before).
'back' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'ale' reversed gives 'ela'.
'by' enclosing 'ela' is 'BELAY'.
(Other definitions for belay that I've seen before include "Turn a rope round something to secure it" , "Make fast" , "Stop" .)