Wife bought in before long to become ecstatic (5)
I believe the answer is:
swoon
'become ecstatic' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'wife bought in before long' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'wife' could be 'w' (abbreviation) and 'w' is located in the answer.
'before long' could be 'soon' (synonyms) and 'soon' is present in the leftover letters.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'to' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for swoon that I've seen before include "Display of extreme emotion" , "Lose consciousness" , "Fall fainting" , "experience ecstasy" , "Show ecstasy" .)