Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A brittle, silvery-white metallic element usually found in combination with gold and other metals, produced commercially as a byproduct of the electrolytic refining of copper and used to alloy stainless steel and lead, in ceramics, and, in the form of bismuth telluride, in thermoelectric devices. Atomic number 52; atomic weight 127.60; melting point 449.5°C; boiling point 989.8°C; specific gravity 6.24; valence 2, 4, 6. See Table at element.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Same as tellurion.
- n. Chemical symbol, Te; atomic weight, 125. One of the rarer elements, occurring in nature in small quantity in the native state and also in combination with various metals, as with gold and silver in the form of graphic tellurium, or sylvanite, with gold, lead, and antimony as nagyagite, and in several other mostly very rare mineral combinations. Tellurium is a brittle substance. Its specific gravity is about 6.2. Its chemical properties have made it a problem from an early time, and it was first called
aurum paradoxum and metallum problematicum. That it was not identical with any metal previously known was demonstrated by Klaproth in 1798. Tellurium, although having a decided metallic luster, and occurring in nature almost exclusively in combination with decided metallic elements, most closely resembles sulphur and selenium in its chemical reactions, and is generally classed at the present time among the non-metallic elements, although considered by Berzelius as being a metal.
Wiktionary
- n. uncountable The chemical element with atomic number 52. Symbol: Te.
- n. A variant spelling of tellurion.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Chem.) A rare nonmetallic element, analogous to sulphur and selenium, occasionally found native as a substance of a silver-white metallic luster, but usually combined with metals, as with gold and silver in the mineral sylvanite, with mercury in Coloradoite, etc. Symbol Te. Atomic weight 125.2.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a brittle silver-white metalloid element that is related to selenium and sulfur; it is used in alloys and as a semiconductor; occurs mainly as tellurides in ores of copper and nickel and silver and gold
Etymologies
- Latin tellus ("earth"). (Wiktionary)
Examples
“The name tellurium came from the Latin word tellus meaning earth.”
“Hazmat tested the white powdery substance and it appeared it's called tellurium, which is a silvery, white in color and it has a metallic type luster.”
“Bottom line, five people who have been exposed to this substance called tellurium as you explained to us Teri, have gone through the decontamination process or are continuing to go through the decontamination process.”
“Commodity costs, I think you are referring to tellurium, which is the issue for our type of industry.”
“The town of Telluride in Colorado was named after the element tellurium, which is often found with gold, and brought about the famous fool's gold rush in Australia.”
“UPDATE 2:02 am 1/12/07: The powder was "tellurium:”
“Today, commercial solar cells have been capable of achieving a power-conversion efficiency of about 9 percent to 11 percent, though they are based on rare, expensive-to-procure elements such as tellurium and indium.”
“5N Plus focuses on specialty metals such as tellurium, cadmium and selenium and on related compounds such as cadmium telluride and cadmium sulphide.”
“GE also announced Thursday that testing by a government laboratory showed its panels set an efficiency record for this type of thin film panel, made from the elements cadmium and tellurium.”
USA Today: GE jumps into the solar panel business with plans to build a big plant
“However, he raised some questions about the government's testing methodology, saying that officials didn't conduct the tests quickly enough after the initial exposure to measure radioactive elements known to disintegrate rapidly, such as iodine 132 and tellurium.”
The Wall Street Journal: Japan Says Children Exposed to Radiation
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘tellurium’.
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Silver
Silvery words. (Mithril doesn't count.)
lessilver, silver, ladysilver, loadsilver, silvery, silversmith, silverwork, silverware, ale-silver, quicksilver, aver-silver, besilver and 242 more...
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IMCO - EU nomenclature
includes words of the "Prodcom list"
abaca, abdominal, abrasive, absorbent, absorber, accelerator, accessory, account book, accumulator, acebutolol, acetaldehyde, acetamide and 4515 more...
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Chemical Elements
A list of chemical elements
hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium, boron, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, fluorine, neon, sodium, magnesium and 106 more...
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je les adore!
fusillade, foal, celestial, abattoir, byzantium, berlin, casablanca, babylon, balkans, albion, avalon, between the devil... and 471 more...
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The Elements
hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium, boron, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, fluorine, neon, sodium, magnesium and 99 more...
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Did Someone Say a Dinner Party?
It's a hazardous world out there...poison all around. I've tried not to include too many drugs (including medicines) and have ignored the fact that too much of anything can poison you. We're going ...
cyanide, botulinum, chlorine, mustard gas, hydrogen cyanide gas, mercury, arsenic, ricin, strychnine, aconite, acetic acid, acetone and 147 more...
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I like : T
taciturn, tangible, tellurium, temerarious, temperance, temporal, teraphim, terra firma, tetragrammaton, thallium, thelema, thor and 31 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for tellurium.
oroboros Te Nov 30, 2007