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." "Where fires thou find'st unraked and hearths unswept. There pinch the maids as blue as bilberry."
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."
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; as, an open-hearth smelting furnace.
