GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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Found one definition

1.       
   Lode , n. [AS. lād way, journey, fr. līðan to go. See Lead to guide, and cf. Load a burden.]
   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
   (Mining) A body of ore visibly separated from adjacent rock.
   PJC
   Especially: (Mining) Any regular vein or course of valuable mineral, whether metallic or not.
   1913 Webster
   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