Pull and keep holding sweetheart (5)
I believe the answer is:
heave
'pull' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'keep holding sweetheart' is the wordplay.
'keep' becomes 'have' (I've seen this in other clues).
'holding' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'sweetheart' becomes 'e' (the heart/centre of 'sweet').
'have' going around 'e' is 'HEAVE'.
'and' is the link.
(Other definitions for heave that I've seen before include "Produce (a sigh); retch" , "Move with an effort" , "past Hove" , "Pull something heavy" , "Tug-of-war shout" .)