01 n. A water course or way; a reach of water.
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1.
A water course or way; a reach of water.“Down that long, dark lode . . . he and his brother skated home in triumph.” — C. Kingsley.
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2.
A body of ore visibly separated from adjacent rock.(Mining)
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3.
Any regular vein or course of valuable mineral, whether metallic or not.(Mining)
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4.
A concentrated supply or source of something valuable.
Phrases & compounds
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.