"Carnal embrace" is not, as my banner reads, the practice of throwing one's arms around a side of beef. It means exactly what I write about: sex. Getting it on. Intercourse. Fucking.
"Carnal" denotes "of the flesh" and comes from the Latin root caro/carn. Embrace is easier to understand (and I hope you all know what it means). Put together, you get the joining of the flesh, the taking and the giving. The beast with two backs. "Knowing" thy neighbor. Okay, I'll stop.
In the play Arcadia, Tom Stoppard opens the first scene with the question of "carnal embrace":
THOMASINA: Septimus, what is carnal embrace?(Stoppard, 1-2)
SEPTIMUS: Carnal embrace is the practice of throwing one's arms around a side of beef.
THOMASINA: Is that all?
SEPTIMUS: No . . . a shoulder of mutton, a haunch of venison well hugged, an embrace of grouse . . . caro, caris; feminine; flesh.
THOMASINA: Is it a sin?
SEPTIMUS: Not necessarily, my lady, but when carnal embrace is sinful it is a sin of the flesh, QED.
But then on the next page, Septimus properly redefines this term:
SEPTIMUS: Ah. Yes, I am ashamed. Carnal embrace is sexual congress, which is the insertion of the male genital organ into the female genital organ for purposes of procreation and pleasure.(Stoppard, 3)
I'd like to add that carnal embrace is not limited to heterosexual intercourse. It is the acceptance of any flesh: your flesh, his flesh, her flesh. Indeed, it can be performed for pleasure and procreation, but often we participate in this "animal" pursuit for much deeper, intricate reasons. For displeasure. To feel the pain. To make them feel the pain. To be liberated. To be filled and fulfilled. The possibilities are endless.
The definitions for carnal embrace are endless. You define what it means to you. After all, an embrace is not complete without your acceptance, participation, and willingness. Carnal embrace is the culmination and continuation of you and another (or perhaps and another . . . and another . . . and another!).