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.