hearthstone

[ hahrth-stohn ]

/ ˈhɑrθˌstoʊn /

a stone forming a hearth.

home; fireside; hearth.

a soft stone, or a preparation of powdered stone and clay, used to whiten or scour hearths, steps, floors, etc.

Origin of hearthstone

First recorded in 1275–1325, hearthstone is from the Middle English word hertston. See hearth, stone

In early times men, only, were deemed capable of handling fire, whether at the altar or the hearthstone.

Eighty Years And More; Reminiscences 1815-1897 |Elizabeth Cady Stanton
The platform, it will be understood, served as our hearthstone, and kept the burning embers off the snow.

Dick Onslow |W.H.G. Kingston
It does not seem as though there ever could come a sorrow to threaten a hearthstone so shut in, so well tended as this one!

A Pilgrim Maid |Marion Ames Taggart
In these letters I do not intend to mistake a pedlar for a mountaineer, nor a hearthstone for a granite peak.

The Glory of English Prose |Stephen Coleridge

The fire as it revived had thrown a glow upon the hearthstone, which was of cast-iron, and presented a large armorial escutcheon.

The International Monthly, Volume 3, No. 3, June, 1851 |Various

hearthstone

/ (ˈhɑːθˌstəʊn) /

a stone that forms a hearth

a less common word for hearth (def. 1)

soft stone used to clean and whiten floors, steps, etc