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[ noun ] an open recess in a wall at the base of a chimney where a fire can be built
Synonyms Examples "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" Used in print (Gerald Green, The Heartless Light....)Inside , as_soon_as Mr._Skopas had disclosed - in a hoarse whisper - the detective 's errand , his family gathered in a huddle , forming a mass of dark flesh on and around a brocaded sofa which stood at one side of a baroque fireplace . (William Maxwell, The Chateau....)Looking_around slowly , he saw a marble fireplace , a desk , a low bookcase of mahogany with criss-crossed brass wire instead of glass panes in the doors . (Arthur Miller, "The Prophecy," in The Best...)The debris of his other careers was piled everywhere ; a pile of wire cages for mice from his time as a geneticist and a microscope lying on its side on the window_sill , vertical steel columns wired for support to the open ceiling beams with spidery steel cantilevers jutting_out into the air , masonry constructions on the floor from the time he was inventing his disastrous fireplace whose smoke would pass_through a whole house , visible all_the_way up through wire gratings on each floor . Related terms recess fire chimney mantel hearth water_back hearthstone fire_iron |
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