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Webster 1913 Edition


Hearth

Hearth

(härth)
,
Noun.
[OE.
harthe
,
herth
,
herthe
, AS.
heorð
; akin to D.
haard
,
heerd
, Sw.
härd
, G.
herd
; cf. Goth.
haúri
a coal, Icel.
hyrr
embers, and L.
cremare
to burn.]
1.
The pavement or floor of brick, stone, or metal in a chimney, on which a fire is made; the floor of a fireplace; also, a corresponding part of a stove.
There was a fire on the
hearth
burning before him.
Jer. xxxvi. 22.
Where fires thou find’st unraked and
hearths
unswept.
There pinch the maids as blue as bilberry.
Shakespeare
2.
The house itself, as the abode of comfort to its inmates and of hospitality to strangers; fireside.
Hearth ends
(Metal.)
,
fragments of lead ore ejected from the furnace by the blast.
Hearth money
,
Hearth penny
[AS.
heorðpening
]
, a
tax formerly laid in England on hearths, each hearth (in all houses paying the church and poor rates) being taxed at two shillings; – called also
chimney money
, etc.
He had been importuned by the common people to relieve them from the . . . burden of the
hearth money
.
Macaulay.

Webster 1828 Edition


Hearth

HE`ARTH

,
Noun.
harth. A pavement or floor of brick or stone in a chimney, on which a fire is made to warm a room, and from which there is a passage for the smoke to ascend.

Definition 2024


hearth

hearth

English

Noun

hearth (plural hearths)

  1. A brick, stone or cement floor to a fireplace or oven.
    • 1907, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “chapter III”, in The Younger Set (Project Gutenberg; EBook #14852), New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt Company, published 1 February 2005 (Project Gutenberg version), OCLC 4241346:
      When the flames at last began to flicker and subside, his lids fluttered, then drooped ; but he had lost all reckoning of time when he opened them again to find Miss Erroll in furs kneeling on the hearth and heaping kindling on the coals, and her pretty little Alsatian maid beside her, laying a log across the andirons.
  2. An open recess in a wall at the base of a chimney where a fire may be built.
  3. The lowest part of a metallurgical furnace.
  4. A symbol for home or family life.
  5. (paganism) A household or group following the modern pagan faith of Heathenry.

Synonyms

  • (open recess at the base of a chimney where a fire may be built): fireplace

Derived terms

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