mother lode

mother lode

1. In mining, the main source of a mineral in a given area. We haven't hit the mother lode of silver quite yet—but we will!
2. By extension, an abundance of something. I wasn't looking to expand my record collection, but I sure hit the mother lode when I cleaned out my parents' attic! It's an exciting time to be a researcher in this field, as a mother lode of new data was recently released.
See also: lode, mother
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • lode
  • fool's gold
  • pink wave
  • piss elegant
  • piss-elegant
  • spoilt
  • be spoiled for choice
  • be spoilt for choice
  • be spoilt/spoiled for choice
  • choice
References in periodicals archive
About the North Bullfrog & Mother Lode Projects, Nevada
Just make sure you bring plenty of ice for the hot summer days, in case you do find the mother lode.
So, if you are asserting that Islam is inherently violent and intolerant -- "the mother lode of bad ideas" -- then, since Islam has been around for 14 centuries, we should have seen 14 centuries of this behavior.
It contains a mother lode of resource materials--with "tastings" from many of them smoothly blended into the text.
Private companies are forming to explore the possibility of mining asteroids - a six-mile-wide missile is a killer, but a six-mile-wide nugget is the mother lode. A good inventory of asteroids that pass nearby would be needed both by space miners and Armageddon avoiders.
Alaska Native Corporations are the mother lode of businesses owned and operated by Alaskans.
You have found the Mother Lode of Career Opportunities.
(http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=17606)), MLB is about to land the mother lode:
"Sooner or later-probably the former-the national media is going to start digging into Gingrich's past, and they will uncover a mother lode of material.
The Mother lode Canyon Band, featuring Park City Mayor Dana Williams, headlined this event.
"Ever since stem-cell science began, scientists have been searching for the elusive mother lode - the single, pure stem cell that could be controlled and expanded in culture prior to transplantation into patients.
A band of three adults and two juvenile "burglar apprentices" were busily ransacking a residence in Silver Springs Shores, Fla., stacking up jewelry and an entertainment system, when they thought they'd found a hidden mother lode of cocaine.
THE BLACK COLLEGIAN invites you to mine The Mother Lode of Career Opportunities--the most comprehensive source of entry-level career opportunities.
The Denali product line consists of more than 30 flavors, including Bear Claw, Bear Foot, Mother Lode, and Caramel Caribou.
At first, many of the trips these two shared were to explore for minerals and sluice for gold in the Mother Lode country.