Figure tea shops empty -- the setter beginning to salivate (7)
I believe the answer is:
chassis
'figure' is the definition.
('chassis' can be a synonym of 'figure')
'tea shops empty the setter beginning to salivate' is the wordplay.
'tea' becomes 'cha' (cha is a type of tea).
'empty' means to remove the middle letters.
'the setter' becomes 'i' (the person that set the crossword).
'beginning to' says to take the initial letters.
'shops' with its middle removed is 'ss'.
The first letter of 'salivate' is 's'.
'cha'+'ss'+'i'+'s'='CHASSIS'
(Other definitions for chassis that I've seen before include "Car's structural framework" , "Vehicle's structure" , "Vehicle's base frame" , "Vehicle's structural frame" , "vessel's structural framework" .)