tellurian
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /tɛˈljʊə.ɹɪ.ən/
ipa: /tɪ-/
ipa: /-ˈljɔː-/
ipa: /tɛˈl(j)ʊ.ɹi.ən/
ipa: /tə-/
ipa: [tʰəˈlɝː.iː.ɨ̃n]
homophone: tellurion
Etymology: From Latin tellūs (“earth, ground; the globe, planet Earth; country, land”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *telh₂- (“ground, bottom”), + -ian (suffix meaning "from, related to, or like" when forming an adjective, or "one from, belonging to, relating to, or like" when forming a noun).
Senses: examples: text: It certainly appears difficult to reconcile with known facts the opinion maintained by [Carl] Linnæus and by [Thomas] Pennant, which is, indeed, a very prevalent one, that all the tribes of tellurian animals now existing have descended from a stock that was preserved in the ark of Noah.
ref: 1836, James Cowles Prichard, “Notes on the Contents of the First Book”, in Researches into the Physical History of Mankind, 3rd edition, volume I, London: Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper, […]; and J. and A. Arch, […], →OCLC, book I (On the Origin and Dispersion of Organized Beings: […]), page 97:
text: Of peaceful mutual Love, the whole mankind / Shall feel the happy power; joyful scenes / Of earthly bliss, tellurian happiness.
ref: 1836, [Constantine Samuel Rafinesque], “XIX. Women and Children.”, in The World, or Instability. A Poem. In Twenty Parts, […], Philadelphia, Pa.; London: Published by J. Dobson, […]; London: O. Rich, →OCLC, page 206:
text: But both from experiment and from our first principles, which remain to be more especially explained in our theory of the tellurian vortex, it is evident, that the north magnetic pole moves round the north tellurian pole, sooner than the south magnetic pole moves round the south tellurian; and this is because the distance of the two from the centre of the vortex is not similar, and because also of the spiral contorsion of the vortex.
ref: 1846, Emanuel Swedenborg, “On the Causes of the Magnetic Declination”, in Augustus Clissold, transl., The Principia; or, The First Principles of Natural Things, being New Attempts toward a Philosophical Explanation of the Elementary World. … Translated from the Latin, London: W. Newbery, […]; H. Baillière, […]; Boston, Mass.: Otis Clapp, […], →OCLC, paragraph 6, page 147:
text: For entrophy is the real cosmic wave, and evolution only a momentary tellurian ripple within it. On these grounds, then, I submit that we Christians have as little to fear as anyone from the knowledge actually acquired.
ref: 1970, C[live] S[taples] Lewis, edited by Walter Hooper, God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics, Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, →ISBN:
text: The myth therefore records the full gamut of creation, of both gods and men, and is plainly a priestly document. It treats authority as being ultimately celestial, and it dispenses with the concept of the Mother as tellurian and conditioned by the earthly element.
ref: 1983, Burr Cartwright Brundage, “The Goddesses”, in The Fifth Sun: Aztec Gods, Aztec World (The Texas Pan American Series), Austin, Tex.: University of Texas Press, →ISBN, pages 165–166:
synonyms: earthly
telluric
terrene
terrestrial
glosses: Of or relating to the earth; (specifically, chiefly science fiction) inhabiting planet Earth as opposed to other planets.
topics: astronomy
natural-sciences
glosses: Of a planet, being composed primarily of silicate rocks or metals; see also terrestrial planet.
examples: text: The tellurian mineral from Goldfield, Nevada, described originally as goldfieldite by Ransome (1909), was proven to be tellurian tennantite by X-ray powder diffraction (Thompson 1946).
ref: 1986, Katsuo Kase, “Tellurian Tennantite from the Besshi-type Deposits in the Sambagawa Metamorphic Belt, Japan”, in The Canadian Mineralogist, volume 24, number 2, page 400, column 1:
topics: chemistry
geography
geology
mineralogy
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: Of a mineral: containing tellurium.
Related terms: tellarium
tellurate
telluratian
telluric
telluride
tellurion
telluritian
tellurium
tellurometer
tellurous