Sign old Hoskins will get caned essentially (4)
I believe the answer is:
omen
'sign' is the definition.
(I know that omen is a type of sign)
'old hoskins will get caned essentially' is the wordplay.
'old' becomes 'o' (common abbreviation eg in OE for Old English).
'hoskins' becomes 'me' (where the crossword setter is 'Hoskins').
'will get' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'essentially' means to look at the middle letters.
The central letter of 'caned' is 'n'.
'o'+'me'+'n'='OMEN'
(Other definitions for omen that I've seen before include "Sign of something to come" , "Augur" , "Event regarded as a prophetic sign of good or evil" , "Sign of things to come" , "Foreshadow" .)