Definition of "carbonite"
noun
countable and uncountable, plural carbonites
An explosive manufactured from a variety of materials, including nitroglycerine, wood meal and nitrates.
Quotations
Although this proved safe in the usual pit gas mixtures, yet it was found impossible to manipulate it, so another explosive, carbonite, made by the same firm, was tried. This was safe in small charges only ; improvements were made, and in September 1887 a carbonite consisting of saltpetre, cellulose, nitro-glycerine, and sulphuretted oil was found to be absolutely safe.
1909, Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute, volume 79, page 550
A naturally occurring carbonaceous material formed from coal, natural coke.
Quotations
In some Scottish localities, in the neighbourhood of trap dykes, coal is found to have been changed to coke ("carbonite"). Similar effects have been noticed (1882) in Midlothian, Chesterfield Co., Va., where the carbonite seam is 15 feet thick.
1889, Charles Edward Groves, William Thorp, Friedrich Knapp, Chemical Technology, page 119