Mother hang about and feign illness? (8)
I believe the answer is:
malinger
'feign illness?' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'mother hang about' is the wordplay.
'mother' becomes 'ma' (ma can mean mother).
'hang about' becomes 'linger' (I've seen this before).
'ma'+'linger'='MALINGER'
'and' is the link.
(Other definitions for malinger that I've seen before include "Feign illness to avoid work" , "Germinal (anag.)" , "skive off school, maybe" , "Loaf or procrastinate" , "Avoid work by feigning illness" .)