Hearth

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Hearth \Hearth\ (h[aum]rth), n. [OE. harthe, herth, herthe, AS.
     heor[eth]; akin to D. haard, heerd, Sw. h[aum]rd, G. herd;
     cf. Goth. ha['u]ri 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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              There was a fire on the hearth burning before him.
                                                    --Jer. xxxvi.
                                                    22.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Where fires thou find'st unraked and hearths
              unswept.
              There pinch the maids as blue as bilberry. --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. The house itself, as the abode of comfort to its inmates
        and of hospitality to strangers; fireside.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Household talk and phrases of the hearth.
                                                    --Tennyson.
  
     3. (Metal. & Manuf.) The floor of a furnace, on which the
        material to be heated lies, or the lowest part of a
        melting furnace, into which the melted material settles;
        as, an open-hearth smelting furnace.
        [1913 Webster +PJC]
  
     {Hearth ends} (Metal.), fragments of lead ore ejected from
        the furnace by the blast.
  
     {Hearth money}, {Hearth penny} [AS. heor[eth]pening], 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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              He had been importuned by the common people to
              relieve them from the . . . burden of the hearth
              money.                                --Macaulay.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  hearth
       n 1: an open recess in a wall at the base of a chimney where a
            fire can be built; "the fireplace was so large you could
            walk inside it"; "he laid a fire in the hearth and lit
            it"; "the hearth was black with the charcoal of many
            fires" [syn: {fireplace}, {open fireplace}]
       2: home symbolized as a part of the fireplace; "driven from
          hearth and home"; "fighting in defense of their firesides"
          [syn: {fireside}]
       3: an area near a fireplace (usually paved and extending out
          into a room); "they sat on the hearth and warmed
          themselves before the fire" [syn: {fireside}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  41 Moby Thesaurus words for "hearth":
     ancestral halls, brood, children, chimney, chimney corner, family,
     family homestead, fender, fire screen, fireboard, fireguard,
     fireplace, fireside, flue, folks, foyer, get, hearth and home,
     hearthstone, hob, home, home place, home roof, home sweet home,
     homefolks, homestead, house, household, hub, ingle, inglenook,
     ingleside, issue, menage, offspring, paternal roof, people, roof,
     rooftree, smokehole, toft
  
  

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Hearth
     Heb. ah (Jer. 36:22, 23; R.V., "brazier"), meaning a large pot
     like a brazier, a portable furnace in which fire was kept in the
     king's winter apartment.
     
       Heb. kiyor (Zech. 12:6; R.V., "pan"), a fire-pan.
     
       Heb. moqed (Ps. 102:3; R.V., "fire-brand"), properly a fagot.
     
       Heb. yaqud (Isa. 30:14), a burning mass on a hearth.