Servant abruptly defying high-ranking official (8)
I believe the answer is:
mandarin
'high-ranking official' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'servant abruptly' is the wordplay.
'servant' becomes 'man' (man is a kind of servant).
'abruptly' becomes 'darin' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'man'+'darin'='MANDARIN'
'defying' is the link.
This may not be right. It may be part of another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for mandarin that I've seen before include "Small citrus fruit" , "Form of Chinese" , "Tongue" , "Variety of citrus fruit" , "Reddish-orange, loose-skinned citrus fruit" .)