Vet tailed by vehicle is cut up (5)
I believe the answer is:
carve
'cut up' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'vet tailed by vehicle' is the wordplay.
'tailed' means to remove the last letter (to tail something can mean to remove its end).
'by' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'vehicle' becomes 'car' (car is a kind of vehicle).
'vet' with its last letter removed is 've'.
've' put after 'car' is 'CARVE'.
'is' is the link.
(Other definitions for carve that I've seen before include "fashion" , "Cut into pieces" , "produced by desire, with a shifting to the left" , "Cut meat with sharp knife" , "Cut meat into slices for eating" .)