hearth

Everyday

1. A hearth is the floor of a fireplace and the area just in front of it, where the fire burns. tree →
2. (literary) Hearth can mean home and family life, as in «hearth and home». tree →

In the lessons

In history lessons, the hearth was the centre of the home in the past: people cooked, kept warm and gathered there. In safety, keep toys, paper and clothes away from the hearth. In stories, sitting by the hearth means a cosy, safe, homely scene. Phrases: hearth and home, by the hearth, hearth rug.

Examples

• The cat slept on the warm hearth. tree →
• Grandma swept the ashes from the hearth. tree →
• In Viking houses the hearth was in the middle of the room. tree →
• Keep the fireguard in front of the hearth. tree →
• The soldiers longed to return to hearth and home. tree →
• We hung our stockings above the hearth on Christmas Eve. tree →
• The cakes were smoking on the hearth. tree →

Note

Say «harth»; in the UK it rhymes with «path», not with «earth». Do not confuse with «heart» or «earth», which look similar. Countable.

In Jewish tradition

In Ezekiel the "hearth" is the top part of the altar, the place where the sacrifices burned. In the Psalms it means a burning fireplace.

Interpretation. Ezekiel's vision describes a new altar with a hearth and four horns on top, and tradition reads this as the altar of the future Temple. The psalmist's bones "burned as a hearth" shows how great his suffering is.

Examples

• For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as a hearth. (Writings PSA.102.4, JPS 1917) tree →
• And the hearth shall be twelve cubits long by twelve broad, square in the four sides thereof. (Prophets EZK.43.16, JPS 1917) tree →
• And the hearth shall be four cubits; and from the hearth and upward there shall be four horns. (Prophets EZK.43.15, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Say «harth»; in the UK it rhymes with «path», not with «earth». Do not confuse with «heart» or «earth», which look similar. Countable.