Lugged by the ear, approach (4,4)
I believe the answer is:
draw near
'approach' is the definition.
(I know that approach can be written as draw near)
'lugged by the ear' is the wordplay.
'lugged by' becomes 'drawn' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'drawn'+'ear'='DRAW NEAR'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for draw near that I've seen before include "get closer" , "Come close" , "Approach" .)