aanslepen

Aanslepen is a Dutch verb that is rarely used in contemporary standard Dutch. The primary sense is to attach or hitch an object to a vehicle or draft animal so that it can be towed or moved. In technical and agricultural contexts, aanslepen overlaps with aankoppelen or koppelen, but it carries a nuance of bringing the object into position by dragging it until the connection is made.

Historically, the term appears in rural and nautical texts and is still found in some regional dialects in the Netherlands and Belgium. The word is formed from the prefix aan- meaning toward or up to, and slepen meaning to drag or haul; thus the sense is to drag something into place or to bring it along by pulling. Figurative use exists but is uncommon in modern formal writing, where aanslepen to mean drawing someone into a task would typically be expressed with other phrasing.

The term is largely regional or historical and is not common in standard contemporary Dutch. When encountered, it usually appears in dialect, literature, or historical descriptions of transport and labor.

See also: slepen, aankoppelen, koppelen.