Poor Paul's stuck in a pigeonhole or rut (8)

I believe the answer is:

copulate

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'rut' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both to do with contact as well as being verbs in their base form.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?

'poor paul's stuck in a pigeonhole' is the wordplay.
'poor' indicates anagramming the letters.
'stuck in' indicates putting letters inside.
'a pigeonhole' becomes 'cote' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'paul' anagrammed gives 'pula'.
'pula' going inside 'cote' is 'COPULATE'.

'or' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

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