Slight Shylock, following his lead (7)
I believe the answer is:
slender
'slight' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'shylock following his lead' is the wordplay.
'shylock' becomes 'lender' (Shylock is a moneylender in The Merchant of Venice).
'following' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'his lead' becomes 's' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'lender' put after 's' is 'SLENDER'.
(Other definitions for slender that I've seen before include "Thin and graceful" , "Slight in form" , "Lean" , "Slim and supple" , "Svelte" .)