[f. FIRE sb. + SIDE.]
1. The side of a fire-place; originally, the place occupied by the two seats right and left of the fire under the chimney; hence, the space about the fire; the hearth.
1563. O. Foxe, in Child Marr., 58. This contract was made toward eveninge nere the fireside.
a. 1639. T. Carew, Poems, Spring, 20.
| Love no more is made | |
| By the fire side; but in the cooler shade. |
1705. Hickeringill, Priest-cr., II. i. 12. The news of this Defeat coming to the Pope, as he was saying his Beads by the Fire-side, he threw his Beads into the Fire, with this Curse; Sint ergo Galli in nomine Diabolorum. All the Devils in Hell take the Frenchman.
1798. Malthus, Popul. (1817), III. 74. The evening meal, the warm house, and the comfortable fireside, would lose half of their interest, if we were to exclude the idea of some object of affection, with whom they were to be shared.
1859. W. Collins, Q. of Hearts (1875), 3. No other responsibility remained to claim from me the sacrifice of myself; my brothers had made my place ready for me by their fireside.
2. transf.
a. As a symbol of home and home-life.
1848. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 149. Showed a spirit which justified the hope that, in case of need, they would fight manfully for their shops and firesides.
1894. Daily News, 6 June, 6/4. The English are regarded as the nation most appreciatory of the home, the fireside.
† b. collect. Those who sit round one’s fire or hearth; one’s household. Obs.
1720. Lett. from Lond. Jrnl., 13. He has a numerous Fireside of squabbling Brats, who are so far from the blessed Unity of Brethren, that they are eternally pulling the Bread out of one another’s Mouths.
1722. Pope, Lett. (1735), I. 276. That you may long enjoy your own Fire-side, in the metaphorical Sense, that is, all those of your Family who make it pleasing to sit and spend whole Wintry Months together.
1785. Mad. D’Arblay, Lett., 3 Jan. A very happy new year to you and your fireside.
3. attrib. (quasi-adj.)
1740. Mrs. Delany, Life & Corr. (1861), II. 137. I own such a downright fire-side epistle from her disappoints me.
1807. Crabbe, Par. Reg., III. 620.
| The seat at table she was wont to fill; | |
| The fire-side chair, still set, but vacant still. |
1840. Dickens, Barn. Rudge, i. He started to find himself the object of such keen regard, and darted an angry and suspicious glance at the fireside group.
1871. Lowell, My Study W., Abraham Lincoln, 174. No higher compliment was ever paid to a nation than the simple confidence, the fireside plainness, with which Mr. Lincoln always addresses himself to the reason of the American people.
Hence (nonce-wds.) Firesider, one who sits by the fireside. Firesideship, the personality of one who sits by the fireside.
1817. Hazlitt, Round Table, in Quarterly Review, XVII. 157. He [Hazlitt] is a very eminent creator of words and phrases. Amongst a vast variety which have newly started into life we notice ‘firesider.’
a. 1859. L. Hunt, Fancy Concert.
| And one of them said, ‘Will my lord tell his slave, | |
| What concert ’twould please his Firesideship to have?’ |
