Pearl met Dicky here for date? (4,4)
I believe the answer is:
palm tree
'here for date?' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't see how one could define the other.
'pearl met dicky' is the wordplay.
'dicky' is an anagram indicator (dicky can mean not functioning properly).
'pearl'+'met'='pearlmet'
'pearlmet' is an anagram of 'PALM-TREE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for palm tree that I've seen before include "Coconut plant" , "One may supply dates" , "Tropical plant with unbranched trunk" , "Its fruit may be dates or coconuts" , "plant to yield oil" .)