01 n. 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…
-
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.” — Shak.
-
2.
The house itself, as the abode of comfort to its inmates and of hospitality to strangers; fireside.“Household talk and phrases of the hearth.” — Tennyson.
-
3.
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.(Metal. & Manuf.)“He had been importuned by the common people to relieve them from the . . . burden of the hearth money.” — Macaulay.
Phrases & compounds
Hearth ends —
fragments of lead ore ejected from the furnace by the blast.
Hearth money —
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.