Non-union labour Shakespeare put to the sword (8)
I believe the answer is:
scabbard
'non-union labour' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't understand how one could define the other.
'shakespeare put to the sword' is the wordplay.
'shakespeare' becomes 'bard' (Shakespeare is known as the Bard).
'put to' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'the sword' becomes 'scab' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'bard' after 'scab' is 'SCABBARD'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for scabbard that I've seen before include "One holding a sword" , "sword-carrier" , "Holding a weapon" , "place of weapon" , "Weapon held here" .)