Cheeky, for example, about ship (5)
I believe the answer is:
sassy
'cheeky' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'for example about ship' is the wordplay.
'for example' becomes 'say' ('say' can be used to introduce an example).
'about' indicates putting letters inside.
'ship' becomes 'SS' (prefix in ship names eg SS Great Britain).
'say' placed around 'ss' is 'SASSY'.
(Other definitions for sassy that I've seen before include "Cheeky American" , "Impertinent (US colloq.)" , "Cheeky (US colloq.)" , "Pert" , "(In US) saucy" .)