Permit old wife everything, initially (5)
I believe the answer is:
allow
'permit' is the definition.
(I know that permit can be written as allow)
'old wife everything initially' is the wordplay.
'old' becomes 'o' (common abbreviation eg in OE for Old English).
'wife' becomes 'w' (abbreviation).
'everything' becomes 'all' (all things).
'initially' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'o'+'w'='ow'
'ow' after 'all' is 'ALLOW'.
(Other definitions for allow that I've seen before include "Sanction" , "Grant" , "Tolerate" , "Permit or concede" , "OK" .)