From WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003) [wn]:
fireplace
n : 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" [syn: hearth, open fireplace]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Fireplace \Fire"place`\, n.
The part a chimney appropriated to the fire; a hearth; --
usually an open recess in a wall, in which a fire may be
built.
[1913 Webster]