lode

Related to lode: mother lode, Lode gold, Motherlode

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:
  • mother 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
8.45-9.15am: Cavalcade of classic Land Rovers to drive from Lode Lane to Solihull town centre.
Under the terms of the merger agreement Oak Valley Bancorp will acquire all of the outstanding common stock of Mother Lode Bank in exchange for USD 7.3m in cash consideration, or USD 1.65 per share of common stock, subject to certain potential adjustments stipulated in the merger agreement.
Champion Stakes: 1 Bubbly Sally, 2 Directors Chair, 3 Lode Star, 4 Lenson Joker (m), 5 Barnfield On Air (m), 6 Ballymac Weeshie (m).
As part of Land Rover's diamond anniversary celebrations - it's official birthday was on April 30 - Crathorne has chronicled his 4x4 exploits in Born in Lode Lane, a book written by Gavin Green.
Born in Lode Lane reveals Crathorne's global exploits which have taken him from the muddy slopes of "gearbox hill" at Eastnor, to the Sahara sand hills and the volcanoes of central America.
Now near Earth's surface, the lode deposits get exposed to the eroding actions of wind and running stream water.
It provides a central source for cartoonists and gag writers to track their progress, keep abreast of editors' needs, "and mine a mother lode of mirth for new ideas," according to editor-in-chief and publisher Bill Keough.
Cassity owns and operates several cemeteries, including the mother lode in Los Angeles--Hollywood Forever, a 62-acre resting spot, adjacent to Paramount Studios, for greats like Rudolph Valentino, Douglas Fairbanks Sr.
on its property west of Thunder Bay has given the partners new optimism that there is a good chance of finding the mother lode. Assay results from one of the mineralized boulders has shown grades of 0.64 per cent zinc, 0.16 per cent copper, 388 grams of silver per tonne of rock and 15.9 grams of gold per tonne of rock.
UBS occupies the mother lode of space here, with 15 floors.
One of dawson's own projects, Film (Lode), ranked with Sternberg's film as one of two successful experimental works presented at Perspectives Canada.
A team of American and Malagasy paleontologists has identified a potential mother lode of Triassic fauna, documenting a pivotal and little understood period of evolution.
Although poetry is sprinkled throughout scripture, the mother lode is the 150 poems collected in the Book of Psalms.
In his "Capitolo in Lode Del Dappoco," a facetious tribute to the worthless person, the painter Agnolo Bronzino (1503-72) muses to his cat Corimbo about how he likes to spend his evenings: "Tu sai Corimbo, che tal volta io leggo/cosi nel letto, per adormentarmi,/o quando, com'or teco al fuoco seggo;/e hai veduto anche scombiccherarmi/qualche foglio e compor qualche cosetta/per passar tempo e '1 cervel ricriarmi (You know Corimbo that I read like this in bed in order to fall asleep, or when as now, I sit with you at the fire; and you have seen me scribbling on some papers and composing some little thing in order to pass the time and refresh my mind) ("Capitolo in lode del dappoco," 37-42).(1) These "scribblings" yielded an impressive corpus.
Since 1864, Sutro had unsuccessfully lobbied the federal government and bankers in San Francisco, New York, and London for capital to begin construction on a four-mile long drainage and ventilation tunnel underneath the Comstock Lode that would "liberate streams of wealth" from the earth.(59) When a fire raced through Gold Hill's Yellow Jacket mine in July 1869, Sutro saw an opportunity to gain the financial and moral capital he so desperately needed.