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]

Hearth \Hearth\, n. [OE. harthe, herth, herthe, AS. heor?; akin to D. haard, heerd, Sw. h["a]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. 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.
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. 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. He had been importuned by the common people to relieve them from the . . . burden of the hearth money. --Macaulay.

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In common historic and modern usage, a hearth (pronounced /ˈhɑrθ/) is a brick- or stone-lined fireplace or oven often used for cooking and/or heating. For many years, the hearth was considered an integral part of a home, often its central or most important feature. This concept has been generalized to refer to a homeplace or household, as in the terms "hearth and home" and "keep the home fires burning." In fireplace design, the hearth is often considered the visible elements of the fireplace, with emphasis upon the floor level extension of masonry associated with the fireplace mantel.

In archaeology, a hearth is a firepit or other fireplace feature of any period. Initial usage refers to a place of warmth, heat, or fire, or 'heat of earth'. Hearths are common features of many eras going back to prehistoric campsites, and may be either lined with a wide range of materials like stone or left unlined. Hearths were used for cooking, heating, and processing of some stone, wood, faunal, and floral resources. Occasionally site formation processes -- e.g., farming or excavation -- deform or disperse hearth features, making them difficult to identify without careful study.

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