Definition

1. Noun:
   • The floor of a fireplace, often extending into the room: The area directly in front of or surrounding a fireplace, typically made of brick, stone, or other non-combustible material.
   • The home or family life, symbolized by the fireplace: A symbolic term representing one's home, family, and domestic life, often with connotations of warmth, comfort, and security.
   • The lowest part of a blast furnace or metallurgical furnace: In industrial contexts, the bottom section of a furnace where molten metal collects.

Examples of Usage

• Literal (Fireplace Area):
  • The cat curled up on the warm hearth.
  • They placed the stockings on the hearth on Christmas Eve.
• Symbolic (Home/Family):
  • The soldiers fought bravely to defend hearth and home.
  • Her stories always evoked a warm sense of hearth and family.
• Industrial (Furnace):
  • The molten iron was tapped from the hearth of the blast furnace.

Advanced Usage

• "Hearth and home": A fixed phrase symbolizing the domestic sphere, one's home and family life.
  • The advertisement appealed to traditional values of hearth and home.
• "Hearth rug": A rug placed in front of a fireplace.
  • The woven hearth rug protected the floor from sparks.

Variants and Related Words

• Hearthstone (n): A single stone forming part of a hearth; also used symbolically for the home.
  • The worn hearthstone had been in the family for generations.
• Hearthside (n): The area beside a hearth; used similarly to "fireside."
  • They enjoyed stories by the hearthside.

Synonyms

• Fireside: The area around a fireplace.
• Fireplace: The structure containing the fire (note: "hearth" is specifically the floor/base area).
• Homestead: A house and its surrounding land; implies home.
• Domesticity: Home or family life.

Related Phrases

• "Keep the home fires burning": An idiom meaning to maintain normal home life, often while someone is away.
  • While he was at war, his family kept the home fires burning.

Notes on Meaning

• The primary modern meaning relates to the fireplace area. The symbolic meaning ("home") is common in literary and formal contexts.
• In historical contexts, the hearth was the central, vital source of heat and light in a home, hence its strong association with home and family.

Noun

1. an area near a fireplace (usually paved and extending out into a room)
   • they sat on the hearth and warmed themselves before the fire
2. home symbolized as a part of the fireplace
   • driven from hearth and home
   • fighting in defense of their firesides
3. 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