hearth

/hɑrθ/

/hɑθ/

Other forms: hearths

If you are warming yourself by the fireplace, you are sitting by the hearth. The noun hearth refers to a fireplace and the area around it.

Hearth refers specifically to the paved floor of a fireplace, which may extend out into a room. Hearths are associated with home and family because the hearth was historically the main source of heat in the home, as well as where the cooking was done. As a result, family members often gathered together around the hearth. The importance of the hearth has made it symbolic of the home, as in the phrase "hearth and home."

Definitions of hearth

1. noun

   a built-in, open space in a wall at the base of a chimney where a fire can be built
   “he laid a fire in the hearth and lit it”

   “the hearth was black with the charcoal of many fires”

   synonyms: fireplace, open fireplace

   types:

   fire

   a fireplace in which a relatively small fire is burning

   cookfire

   a fire for cooking

   type of:

   niche, recess

   an enclosure that is set back or indented
2. noun

   an area near a fireplace (usually paved and extending out into a room)
   “they sat on the hearth and warmed themselves before the fire”

   synonyms: fireside

   type of:

   area, country

   a particular geographical region of indefinite boundary (usually serving some special purpose or distinguished by its people or culture or geography)
3. noun

   home symbolized as a part of the fireplace
   “driven from hearth and home”

   synonyms: fireside

   type of:

   abode, domicile, dwelling, dwelling house, habitation, home

   housing that someone is living in