Partially flushes it at establishment stalls (9)
I believe the answer is:
hesitates
'stalls' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both to do with fundamental existence as well as being verbs in their -s form.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'partially flushes it at establishment' is the wordplay.
'partially' indicates a hidden word.
'HESITATES' is hidden in the letters of 'flushes it at establishment'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for hesitates that I've seen before include "rather dubious" , "Has misgivings" , "Is somewhat lost for words" , "dithers" , "thinks twice" .)