Pole feeding beast in tug (4)
I believe the answer is:
yank
'tug' is the definition.
(both can mean to pull)
'pole feeding beast' is the wordplay.
'pole' becomes 'n' (abbreviation for North, as in North Pole).
'feeding' is an insertion indicator (one word is fed by another set of letters).
'beast' becomes 'yak' (I have seen 'Beast of burden ' mean 'yak' so perhaps 'beast' could also mean 'yak').
'n' placed into 'yak' is 'YANK'.
'in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for yank that I've seen before include "one across pond" , "Countryman" , "Sharp movement" , "pluck" , "Tug suddenly" .)