'Lode' definitions:
Definition of 'lode'
From: WordNet
noun
A deposit of valuable ore occurring within definite boundaries separating it from surrounding rocks [syn: lode, load]
Definition of 'Lode'
From: GCIDE
- Lode \Lode\ (l[=o]d), n. [AS. l[=a]d way, journey, fr. l[imac][eth]an to go. See Lead to guide, and cf. Load a burden.]
- 1. A water course or way; a reach of water. [1913 Webster]
- Down that long, dark lode . . . he and his brother skated home in triumph. --C. Kingsley. [1913 Webster]
- 2. (Mining) A body of ore visibly separated from adjacent rock. [PJC]
- 3. Especially: (Mining) Any regular vein or course of valuable mineral, whether metallic or not. [1913 Webster]
- 4. Hence: A concentrated supply or source of something valuable. [PJC]
- mother lode a large concentrated source of mineral or other valuable thing, from which lesser sources have been derived; -- often used figuratively. The term may have been originally applied to real or imagined large deposits of gold from which smaller granules were washed downstream, there constituting a diluted source of gold, and hinting at the richer source from which they were derived; as, to hit the mother lode. [PJC]
Synonyms of 'lode'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- bonanza,
- chimney,
- chute,
- cornucopia,
- country rock,
- deposit,
- dike,
- Eldorado,
- font,
- fount,
- fountain,
- gangue,
- Golconda,
- gold mine,
- gravy train,
- lodestuff,
- matrix,
- mine,
- mine of wealth,
- mineral deposit,
- mother lode,
- ore bed,
- pay dirt,
- quarry,
- resource,
- rich lode,
- rich uncle,
- shoot,
- source,
- source of supply,
- spring,
- staple,
- stock,
- vein,
- well,
- wellspring