Cable a chap out East (4)
I believe the answer is:
lead
'cable' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'a chap out east' is the wordplay.
'a chap' becomes 'lad' ('lad' can be a synonym of 'chap').
'out' indicates putting letters inside.
'east' becomes 'e' (abbreviation).
'lad' placed around 'e' is 'LEAD'.
(Other definitions for lead that I've seen before include "Main news story" , "Metal; show the way" , "Be in charge of; metal" , "Soft, heavy metal" , "Advantage" .)