Kind of tense, drive over island for meat (8)
I believe the answer is:
pastrami
'for meat' is the definition.
(pastrami is a kind of meat)
'kind of tense drive over island' is the wordplay.
'kind of tense' becomes 'past' (I've seen this in another clue).
'drive' becomes 'ram' (RAM drive on a computer).
'over' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other) (in a down clue, some letters go over others).
'island' becomes 'i' (geographical abbreviation).
'past'+'ram'+'i'='PASTRAMI'
(Other definitions for pastrami that I've seen before include "Spiced smoked beef" , "Smoked, highly-seasoned cut of beef" , "beef dish" , "smoked joint" , "Sliced cured beef" .)