▪ I. † carnal, n.1 Obs.
[Presumably for F. corneille crow: but there may be some connexion or association with carnal adj.]
? A crow.
| 17.. ‘Carnal & Crane’ i. in Child Ballads ii. iv. (1885) 8/1 In argument I chanced to hear A Carnal and a Crane. |
▪ II. † carnal, n.2 Obs.
A perversion of cardinal.
| a 1528 Skelton Image Hypocr. ii. 429 Be they not carnalles, And lordes infernalles? 1543 Becon Pol. Warre Pref., One..an Englishe man borne daunceth now like a Traytoure in a Carnalles wede at Rome. 1598 R. Barckley Felic. Man (1631) 51 This Cardinall..or rather Carnall and his Brother were both extremely in love with one woman. |
▪ III. carnal, a.
(ˈkɑːnəl)
Forms: 5 Sc. carnaill, 5–6 carnell, 6 karnale, 5–7 carnall, 5– carnal.
[ad. L. carnāl-is fleshly (in Tertullian and other Christian writers), and frequent in med.L. as an attribute of relationship, as frater or soror carnalis, brother or sister by blood, in which use it appears in Eng. in 15th c. The theological sense appears equally early, but app. not in Wyclif. The Fr. repr. is charnel: see charnel.]
† 1. Of or pertaining to the flesh or body; bodily, corporeal. Obs.
| c 1470 Henry Wallace xi. 1348 Bot Inglissmen him seruit of carnaill fud. 1555 in Strype Eccl. Mem. III. App. xliv. 125 Look not you for it with carnal eyes. 1579 Fulke Refut. Rastel 745 The Lutheranes admitte the carnall presence. 1658 Sir T. Browne Hydriot. i. 22 Carnal Interrment or burying. 1847 tr. St. Aug. on Psalm xlv. III. 240 The Church which coming from the Gentiles did not consent to carnal circumcision. |
† 2. Related ‘in blood’, ‘according to the flesh’.
| c 1450 Merlin vii. 117 Noble knyghtes..many of hem carnell frendes. 1490 Caxton How to Die 8 His wyf, his chyldren, & his frendes carnall. 1509 Barclay Ship of Fooles (1570) 181 Christ our Sauiour..His carnall mother benignly did honour. 1598 Hakluyt Voy. I. 66 Two carnall brothers. |
3. Pertaining to the body as the seat of passions or appetites; fleshly, sensual.
| a 1400 Cov. Myst. (1841) 84 Myghty soferauns of carnal temptacion. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 148 b, Blynded with sensualite & carnall pleasure. 1670 Walton Hooker 33 The visible carnal sins of gluttony and drunkenness, and the like. 1829 Southey All for Love iv, To carnal wishes would it [Heaven] turn The mortified intent? |
b. Sexual.
| c 1450 Merlin i. 17 That myght haue childe with-owte carnall knowynge of man. 1533 T. Wilson Rhet. 25 b, Without wedlocke and carnal copulation. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 1013 That false fruit..Carnal desire inflaming. 1686 Col. Rec. Penn. I. 176 He was accused of having Carnall Knowledge of his Brother in Law's woman Servant. |
4. Not spiritual, in a negative sense; material, temporal, secular. arch.
| 1483 [see charnel]. c 1510 Barclay Mirr. Good Mann. (1570) D ij a, Suche one in carnell troubles can no displeasour finde. 1611 Bible Rom. xv. 27 Their duetie is also to minister vnto them in carnall things. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. xxviii. §5 III. 80 Judge whether Martin was supported by the aid of miraculous powers, or of carnal weapons. 1839 Stonehouse Axholme 207 [Wesley] began to doubt the utility, and even the lawfulness of carnal studies. |
† b. as n. in pl. ‘Carnal things’, temporal or worldly goods. [Rendering τὰ σαρκικά, or Vulg. carnalia, in Rom. xv. 27. 1 Cor. ix. 11.] Obs.
| 1607 S. Collins Serm. (1608) 89 They haue aduanced..the spirtualls of other men, with the loss..of their own carnalls. 1625 Burges Pers. Tithes 10 Euery man..that is made partaker of the Minister's Spirituals, must render Carnals. Ibid. 14 Spirituals doe well deserue carnals. |
5. Not spiritual, in a privative sense; unregenerate, unsanctified, worldly.
| c 1510 More Picus Ded., All faithfull people are rather spirituall then carnall. 1526 Tindale Rom. vii. 14 The lawe is spirituall, but I am carnall [Wyclif fleischli]. 1611 Bible Rom. viii. 7 The carnall minde is enmitie against God. 1667 Milton P.L. xi. 212 Had not doubt And carnal fear that day dimm'd Adams eye. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 494 ¶1 To abstain from all Appearances of Mirth and Pleasantry, which were looked upon as the Marks of a Carnal Mind. 1865 Mozley Mirac. iii. 65 To a carnal imagination an invisible world is a contradiction in terms—another world besides the whole world. |
† 6. Carnivorous; fig. bloody, murderous. Obs.
| 1594 Shakes. Rich III, iv. iv. 56 This carnall curre Preyes on the issue of his mothers body. |
7. Comb., as carnal-minded adj., carnal-mindedness; carnal securitan [f. carnal security; sense 5], etc.
| 1664 H. More Antid. Idol. x. 123 Abusing the credulous and *carnal-minded. |
| 1607 Hieron Wks. I. 105 This must needes condemne our *carnall mindednesse. 1849 Hare Par. Serm. (1849) II. 30 Spiritual pride..is apt to settle down into carnalmindedness. |
| 1627 Bernard Isle of Man 18 One Mr. Outside, in the inside a *carnall Securitan, a fellow that will come to his Church. |
| 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. ix. 112 A most *carnall-spirituall exposition. |
| 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xii, This *carnal-witted scholar, as he had in his pride termed Butler. |
▪ IV. † ˈcarnal, v. Obs. rare.
[f. carnal a.]
a. trans. To make carnal, fill with sensuality. b. intr. To have carnal intercourse with.
| 1643 Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. ii. §7 This was the Temper of that Lecher that carnal'd with a Statua. a 1653 G. Daniel Idyll iii. 90 The Lust of Tyrants..carnalls the world at Will. |