Sound of cat trapped in pile coming back after prowl? (8)
I believe the answer is:
homeward
'coming back after prowl?' is the definition.
(coming back after venturing away from home)
'sound of cat trapped in pile' is the wordplay.
'sound of cat' becomes 'mew'.
'trapped in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'pile' becomes 'hoard'.
'mew' placed into 'hoard' is 'HOMEWARD'.
(Other definitions for homeward that I've seen before include "towards my place" , "Going to residence" , "Towards one's residence" , "back to dwelling" .)