You're acting as if there is only one definition of that word. There isn't. The word can refer to the physical elements of the universe and that's how it's used in 2 Peter 3:10 & 12.
It depends then on whether or not we need to interpret everything in scripture in the light of Amilennial doctrine.
(Like with so many other interpretations and conclusions we come to, such as
whether or not the word anastasis,
which you admit refers to the bodily resurrection, is being used in reference to the
zao of those who had been beheaded in Revelation 20:4-6, and
whether or not the fact that Revelation makes sure we understand that
this is the first resurrection shows us that it's definitely talking about the bodily resurrection of those who had been beheaded, because Christ
IS the resurrection and the life, and any subsequent resurrection is still the first resurrection).
I will answer your question now about the earth and all it's works being burned up: Aside from the fact that Biblical prophetic literature and Apocalyptic is saturated with metaphor and hyperbole (both in the Old and New Testament books), what Peter says, he is saying in the context of a number of things:
Noah's day: Was the earth and universe destroyed and replaced by another? Yet the time that followed the ark resting on Mt Ararat is a type of the new heavens and earth.
New heavens and earth: a completely different creation after everything has been destroyed?
Or this?:
So that
if any one is in Christ, that one is a new creature; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision has any strength, nor uncircumcision,
but a new creation.
Romans 8
19 For the earnest expectation of the creation waits for the manifestation of the sons of God.
20 For the creation was not willingly subjected to vanity, but because of Him who subjected it on hope
21 that the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
22 And we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now.
23 And not only so, but ourselves also, who have the firstfruit of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, awaiting adoption, the redemption of our body.
24 For we are saved by hope. But hope that is seen is not hope; for what anyone sees, why does he also hope for it?
25 But if we hope for that which we do not see, then we wait for it with patience.
See how this relates to the elements
[stoicheîon] of
the world [kósmos] in Galatians 4:3 and to
the new creation in Christ:
Galatians 4
3 Even so we, when we were infants, were in bondage under the elements of the world.
4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, coming into being out of a woman, having come under Law,
5 that He might redeem those under Law, so that we might receive the adoption of sons.
6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
7 So that you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, also an heir of God through Christ.
A THOUSAND YEARS is mentioned in the context of this passage, JUST as it's mentioned in Revelation 20,
which you do not believe refers to a literal thousand years.
2 Peter 3
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a rushing noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat. And the earth and the works in it will be burned up.
11 Then, all these things being about to be dissolved, what sort ought you to be in holy behavior and godliness,
12 looking for and rushing the coming of the Day of God, on account of which the heavens, being on fire, will melt away, and the elements will melt, burning with heat?
13 But according to His promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
Question: What are the works of the earth that will be burned up? God's works when He created the earth? Or Satan's works, the works of corruption carried out by man since Adam and Eve?
Are you 100% sure 2 Peter 3:5-13 is very, very literal, and there is no meaning in it which would be consistent with the Bible's repeated use of metaphor, symbolism and hyperbole (to the extent that all prophetic books of the Bible are saturated with it)?
I have not come to any hard-and-fast conclusion on 2 Peter 3:5-13, but one thing I know: The hyper-literal way of interpreting it, is extremely short-sighted, to say the least, and is born out of a need to ensure that all prophetic utterances in the Old and New Testaments comply with an Amillennial platform.
If Amillennialism is wrong, then the platform upon which you base all this is the foundation of sand and the whole frame and everything else you've built on your foundation, is the sandcastle built on the sea's side of the high-tide mark.
I believe the thousand years mentioned by Peter is literal, and in Revelation 20 is literal, and the rest metaphor and a great deal of symbolism based on types, mixed with hyperbole, which is so typical of this type of prophetic statement regarding the judgment of nations such as Babylon, Nineveh, Judah, Babylon the Great, etc etc.
You obviously have it the other way around: The thousand years is symbolic and the rest is literal (to you).
And that's why we will never agree on it.