To climb it is hard, being sick (4)
I believe the answer is:
hill
'to climb' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are verbs in their base form, I cannot understand how one could define the other.
'hard being sick' is the wordplay.
'hard' becomes 'h'.
'being sick' becomes 'ill' ('ill' can be a synonym of 'sick').
'h'+'ill'='HILL'
'it is' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for hill that I've seen before include "Incline" , "See 8" , "Rise" , "High mass of land" , "Elevation on land" .)