Man has wife - a woman (4)
I believe the answer is:
dawn
'a woman' is the definition.
'man has wife' is the wordplay.
'man' becomes 'dan' (**).
'has' is an insertion indicator.
'wife' becomes 'w'.
'dan' placed around 'w' is 'DAWN'.
(Other definitions for dawn that I've seen before include "Begin to appear" , "beginning" , "Cockcrow" , "Light in East" , "Aurora was its goddess" .)