Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A soft, silvery-gray metallic rare-earth element, extracted chiefly from monazite, used in high-temperature fuel cells as a stabilizer and in alloys responsive to a magnetic field. Terbium oxide provides an important phosphor in cathode-ray tubes and low-energy lighting applications. Atomic number 65; atomic weight 158.925; melting point 1,356°C; boiling point 3,230°C; specific gravity 8.230; valence 3, 4. cross-reference: Periodic Table.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A rare element, not yet isolated, occurring in the samarskite of North Carolina and certain other rare minerals, associated with erbium and yttrium.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Chem.) A rare metallic element, found in certain minerals, as gadolinite and samarskite, with other rare earths such as ytterbium. Symbol Tb. Atomic number 65. Atomic weight 158.925.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun a metallic chemical element (symbol Tb) with an atomic number of 65

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a metallic element of the rare earth group; used in lasers; occurs in apatite and monazite and xenotime and ytterbite

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[After Ytterby, a town in Sweden.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

After Ytterby, Sweden.

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Examples

  • Indeed, some international prices haven't fallen at all, in particular those that are known as heavy rare earths, like terbium, which is used in advanced lasers and optics.

    Rare-Earths Prices Appear to Soften James T. Areddy 2011

  • The rare-earths blasted out of rocks here feed more than 77 per cent of global demand for elements such as terbium, which power low-energy lightbulbs; neodymium, which powers wind turbines; and lanthanum, which powers the batteries of hybrid cars such as the Toyota Prius.

    Home | Mail Online 2010

  • The rare-earths blasted out of rocks here feed more than 77 per cent of global demand for elements such as terbium, which power low-energy lightbulbs; neodymium, which powers wind turbines; and lanthanum, which powers the batteries of hybrid cars such as the Toyota Prius.

    Home | Mail Online 2010

  • The rare-earths blasted out of rocks here feed more than 77 per cent of global demand for elements such as terbium, which power low-energy lightbulbs; neodymium, which powers wind turbines; and lanthanum, which powers the batteries of hybrid cars such as the Toyota Prius.

    Home | Mail Online 2010

  • The rare-earths blasted out of rocks here feed more than 77 per cent of global demand for elements such as terbium, which power low-energy lightbulbs; neodymium, which powers wind turbines; and lanthanum, which powers the batteries of hybrid cars such as the Toyota Prius.

    Home | Mail Online 2010

  • Amygdala explains why you might want to care about dysprosium, terbium, and neodymium.

    Discourse.net: I'll Have Mine Rare 2009

  • Apple Inc. and Blackberry maker Research In Motion Ltd. use terbium to make their phones smaller, lighter and faster.

    Rare-Earth Firms Prove a Common Focus for Shorts Brendan Conway 2011

  • The insides of energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs are coated with tiny amounts of two such elements, terbium and europium.

    U.S. urged to swiftly secure supplies of 'energy-critical elements' 2011

  • The insides of energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs are coated with tiny amounts of two such elements, terbium and europium.

    U.S. urged to safeguard supply of 'energy-critical elements' 2011

  • Everything from fluorescent light bulbs to laptop and iPhone screens relies on small but critical amounts of europium to generate a pleasant red color and terbium to make green.

    Testing Their Metals Tatyana Shumsky 2011

Comments

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  • Tb

    December 1, 2007

  • You know there are four elements all discovered in that same region, named for that same town, Ytterby.

    yttrium, erbium, terbium, and ytterbium

    End of useless trivia item.

    December 1, 2007