HEARTH

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does hearth mean? 

• HEARTH (noun)
  The noun HEARTH has 3 senses:

1. an open recess in a wall at the base of a chimney where a fire can be built

2. home symbolized as a part of the fireplace

3. an area near a fireplace (usually paved and extending out into a room)

  Familiarity information: HEARTH used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HEARTH (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An open recess in a wall at the base of a chimney where a fire can be built

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

fireplace; hearth; open fireplace

Context example:

the hearth was black with the charcoal of many fires

Hypernyms ("hearth" is a kind of...):

niche; recess (an enclosure that is set back or indented)

Meronyms (parts of "hearth"):

fire iron (metal fireside implements)

fireside; hearth (home symbolized as a part of the fireplace)

hearthstone (a stone that forms a hearth)

chimneypiece; mantel; mantelpiece; mantle; mantlepiece (shelf that projects from wall above fireplace)

water back (water heater consisting of a tank or pipes set at the back of a fireplace or in the firebox of a stove)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "hearth"):

fire (a fireplace in which a relatively small fire is burning)

Holonyms ("hearth" is a part of...):

chimney (a vertical flue that provides a path through which smoke from a fire is carried away through the wall or roof of a building)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Home symbolized as a part of the fireplace

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

fireside; hearth

Context example:

fighting in defense of their firesides

Hypernyms ("hearth" is a kind of...):

abode; domicile; dwelling; dwelling house; habitation; home (housing that someone is living in)

Domain usage:

synecdoche (substituting a more inclusive term for a less inclusive one or vice versa)

Holonyms ("hearth" is a part of...):

fireplace; hearth; open fireplace (an open recess in a wall at the base of a chimney where a fire can be built)

Sense 3

Meaning:

An area near a fireplace (usually paved and extending out into a room)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

fireside; hearth

Context example:

they sat on the hearth and warmed themselves before the fire

Hypernyms ("hearth" is a kind of...):

area; country (a particular geographical region of indefinite boundary (usually serving some special purpose or distinguished by its people or culture or geography))

 Context examples 

A group of more interest appeared near the hearth, sitting still amidst the rosy peace and warmth suffusing it.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

"I planned to spend mine in new music," said Beth, with a little sigh, which no one heard but the hearth brush and kettle-holder.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The remains of the two infants were found in a pit directly below a hearth where the 2010 remains were uncovered. (NSF)

(Archaeologists discover remains of Ice-Age infants in Alaska, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Without putting down the poker, he now hugged me again; and I hugged him; and, both laughing, and both wiping our eyes, we both sat down, and shook hands across the hearth.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

So she made a fire on her hearth, and that it might burn the quicker, she lighted it with a handful of straw.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

When I had dressed myself I went into the room where we had supped, and found a cold breakfast laid out, with coffee kept hot by the pot being placed on the hearth.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The hall, when they entered it, was brightly lighted up; the fire was built high; and about the hearth the whole of the servants, men and women, stood huddled together like a flock of sheep.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Little had been left besides the framework of the house, but in one corner there was a stone slab laid down by way of hearth and an old rusty iron basket to contain the fire.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

On opening the door, she perceived her sister and Bingley standing together over the hearth, as if engaged in earnest conversation; and had this led to no suspicion, the faces of both, as they hastily turned round and moved away from each other, would have told it all.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

One summer night, a few months after my marriage, I was seated by my own hearth smoking a last pipe and nodding over a novel, for my day’s work had been an exhausting one.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)