Give corn providing protection (8)
I believe the answer is:
covering
'protection' is the definition.
(I know that covering is a type of protection)
'give corn providing' is the wordplay.
'providing' indicates anagramming the letters.
'give'+'corn'='givecorn'
'givecorn' anagrammed gives 'COVERING'.
(Other definitions for covering that I've seen before include "Enveloping" , "Protecting" , "making new version of record" , "Sleeve" , "acting as a reporter" .)