Street people wearing check robe (8)
I believe the answer is:
vestment
'robe' is the definition.
(vestment is a kind of robe)
'street people wearing check' is the wordplay.
'street' becomes 'st'.
'people' becomes 'men' (men can refer to humanity as a whole).
'wearing' indicates putting letters inside.
'check' becomes 'vet' (I've seen this before).
'st'+'men'='stmen'
'stmen' inserted into 'vet' is 'VESTMENT'.
(Other definitions for vestment that I've seen before include "Clerical robe" , "What clergyman puts on" , "Robe, official garment" , "Gown of the clergy" , "Alb" .)