The bill for a meal in a ship, really hurts! (5)
I believe the answer is:
stabs
'the' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'bill for a meal in a ship really hurts' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'bill' could be 'tab' (a tab is a bill at a bar) and 'tab' is found within the answer.
'ship' could be 'ss' (prefix in ship names eg SS Great Britain) and 'ss' is found in the leftover letters.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for stabs that I've seen before include "Wounds with blow of knife" , "Thrusts a knife into" , "Pierces" .)