We sat around - hard work (5)
I believe the answer is:
sweat
'hard work' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'we sat around' is the wordplay.
'around' indicates putting letters inside.
'we' inserted within 'sat' is 'SWEAT'.
(Other definitions for sweat that I've seen before include "Soldier" , "It's hard work" , "Toil" , "Waste (anag.)" , "(Of argument) intense" .)