mother lode
Any source of valuable or useful material.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“This old library is a mother lode of information.”
“After searching for hours, the researchers finally found a mother lode of data in the archives.”
“The historian realized that the dusty collection of letters was a mother lode of insight into the lives of the city's founders.”
disputed origin
Probably a calque of Spanish veta madre (“mother lode”).
- 01
and his mother
Serves as an intensifier for an inclusive noun or phrase such as everyone, anyone, each someone or all someones.
- 02
be mother
To pour out tea for others.
- 03
black over Bill's mother's
Describing rain-bearing dark clouds on the horizon.
- 04
like mother, like daughter
A daughter takes after her mother.
- 05
mother hen
An outspoken and overprotective woman or person dealing with others' affairs; especially, an assertive matriarch.
- 06
Mother Hubbard
Empty.
- 07
mother of all
Used before a plural noun to form a compound noun having the sense of: the greatest or largest of (its kind); the most epic example of (its kind).
- 08
patience of Mother Teresa
A great deal of patience.
Last updated August 10, 2026