Noun

(en noun)

An open hearth for holding a fire at the base of a chimney.

* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)

, title=(The China Governess) , chapter=3 citation , passage=Sepia Delft tiles surrounded the fireplace , their crudely drawn Biblical scenes in faded cyclamen blending with the pinkish pine, while above them, instead of a mantelshelf, there was an archway high enough to form a balcony with slender balusters and a tapestry-hung wall behind.}}

Noun

(en noun)

A device for heating.

A device that heats materials being processed in a factory.

A device that provides heat for a building.

Any area that is excessively hot.

(figurative) A place or time of punishment, affiction, or great trial; severe experience or discipline.

* William Tyndale, (Tyndale Bible), :

For the Lorde toke you and broughte you out of the yernen fornace of Egipte, to be vnto him a people of enheritaunce, as it is come to passe this daye.