terranium

plural terraniums

1. countableuncountableA (fictional) element, especially a metal.

   They were built of terranium, a superhard metallic material that had the ability to feed on the earthy crust, making it amenable to growing fauna.

   2002, Mack Maloney, The Fourth Empire, Speaking Volumes, →ISBN, page 88

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   How might an environmental regulatory system operate in order to control the risks associated with terranium? What standards might be applied and what regulatory instruments used? What further information about terranium would you want ...?

   2013, Stuart Bell, Donald McGillivray, Ole Pedersen, Environmental Law, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 267

   It also happened to be rich in terranium, the metal that was once used to build the vast majority of the buildings on Tri. A hundred years ago, mine owners and metal exporters from Tri had come to Deva eager to stake their claim.

   2018, Kass Morgan, Light Years, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, →ISBN

2. countablenonstandarduncountableA terrarium.

   A terranium which has a bog environment contains various species of snakes, frogs, turtles and salamanders and a bio-temperature incubator where such variables as temperature and humidity may be controlled for experiments.

   1967, William George Bruce, William Conrad Bruce, The American School Board Journal

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   Build a terranium, if you wish. That is, let the boys build it. Don't do the work yourself, for half the interest is in making the thing. Have the boys bring an old berry crate; cut out the slats and take off the top; cover it with fine wire netting […] Put in one or two small plants or shrubs for landscape effect and the terranium is ready. […] Begin on that terranium. […]

   1909 September, B. H. Crocheron, "Hints for Neighborhood Co-operation", in "The Rural School", in the Atlantic Educational Journal, volume 5,, page 23