To start with, Ben embraces Joe (5)
I believe the answer is:
begin
'to start with' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'ben embraces joe' is the wordplay.
'embraces' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'joe' becomes 'gi' (GI Joe).
'ben' going around 'gi' is 'BEGIN'.
(Other definitions for begin that I've seen before include "Partly open" , "Found" , "Monachem --" , "Get cracking" , "Make a start" .)