Examine the empty street (4)
I believe the answer is:
test
'examine' is the definition.
(I know that examine can be written as test)
'the empty street' is the wordplay.
'the' becomes 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects).
'empty' becomes 'e' (abbreviation e.g. on guages).
'street' becomes 'st' (abbreviation).
't'+'e'+'st'='TEST'
(Other definitions for test that I've seen before include "Sample" , "Critical examination or trial of qualities or abilities" , "Cricket match; exam" , "Assay" , "Experiment" .)