Might this be given a shaking before start of repast? (7)
I believe the answer is:
vinegar
'might this be' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both substances as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?
'given a shaking before start of repast?' is the wordplay.
'shaking' is an anagram indicator.
'before' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'start of' indicates taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'repast' is 'r'.
'given'+'a'='givena'
'givena' with letters rearranged gives 'vinega'.
'vinega'+'r'='VINEGAR'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for vinegar that I've seen before include "Soured wine, cider etc." , "Pickling agent" , "bad wine?" , "Pickling condiment" , "Healer with brown paper" .)