an open recess in a wall at the base of a chimney where a fire can be built; "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"
an establishment consisting of a building or complex of buildings where an organization for the promotion of some cause is situated
a custom that for a long time has been an important feature of some group or society; "the institution of marriage"; "the institution of slavery"; "he had become an institution in the theater"
an organization founded and united for a specific purpose