mother lode
Americannoun
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Mining. a rich or important lode.
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a major or profitable source or supply.
New York City is a mother lode of actors.
noun
Etymology
Origin of mother lode
First recorded in 1855–60
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Negro League stats accumulated and published by MLB today differ slightly from those on Baseball-Reference.com, the widely recognized mother lode of statistical information.
From Los Angeles Times • May 29, 2024
But it could be a mother lode for small and large local news outlets, providing $500 million a year to preserve and grow local newsrooms.
From Seattle Times • May 15, 2024
The mother lode of winter storms has sent water blasting through rock crevices and rivers in the Sierra Nevada, leading to more glittering discoveries by prospectors.
From New York Times • Apr. 22, 2023
He is facing upriver, an inveterate white-water miner, basking for one more moment in the glow of the mother lode.
From Washington Post • Oct. 7, 2022
Out in those fields, he used to talk about finding the mother lode, though: a mason jar of old money.
From "Shouting at the Rain" by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
