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Definition of mother lode
mother lode
Plural:mother lodes
• noun
1
The richest, most abundant, or most profitable source or supply of something.
Example
"Historians discovered the mother lode of nineteenth-century correspondence in the university's basement archives."
2
A principal vein or zone of gold, silver, or other valuable ore in a region.
Example
"The prospectors spent years tunneling into the mountainside before finally striking the mother lode."
Synonyms
View all synonyms for mother lode Antonyms
View all antonyms for mother lodeWord Nuance & Usage
Often misspelled as "mother load" due to confusion with the noun "load"; the correct spelling uses "lode," a mining term for a vein of metal ore.
• Nearby Words
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.
180019102020
Data source: Google Books Ngram Viewer
Cite this Entry
Wordmom. (2026). Definition of Mother lode. In Wordmom Dictionary. Retrieved Nov 5, 2026, from https://wordmom.com/dictionary/mother-lode