Cable English member absorbed in public vehicle (8)
I believe the answer is:
telegram
'cable' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'english member absorbed in public vehicle' is the wordplay.
'english' becomes 'E' (abbreviation as in OED).
'member' becomes 'leg' (member can mean a limb).
'absorbed in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'public vehicle' becomes 'tram' (I've seen this before).
'e'+'leg'='eleg'
'eleg' inserted within 'tram' is 'TELEGRAM'.
(Other definitions for telegram that I've seen before include "(Old) type of message" , "Electric message" , "Message sent by wire" , "It may bring word" , "Pre-1980s electronic message" .)