ENGLISH
REFERENCE

mother lode

idiom
Meaning

Any source of valuable or useful material.


Origin

disputed origin

Probably a calque of Spanish veta madre (“mother lode”).

Examples
SIMPLE

This old library is a mother lode of information.

CONTEXTUAL

After searching for hours, the researchers finally found a mother lode of data in the archives.

COMPLEX

The historian realized that the dusty collection of letters was a mother lode of insight into the lives of the city's founders.

Anchors to
Related idioms8entries
  1. 01

    and his mother

    Serves as an intensifier for an inclusive noun or phrase such as everyone, anyone, each someone or all someones.

  2. 02

    be mother

    To pour out tea for others.

  3. 03

    like mother, like daughter

    A daughter takes after her mother.

  4. 04

    mother hen

    An outspoken and overprotective woman or person dealing with others' affairs; especially, an assertive matriarch.

  5. 05

    Mother Hubbard

    Empty.

  6. 06

    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).

  7. 07

    patience of Mother Teresa

    A great deal of patience.

  8. 08

    refrigerator mother

    An emotionally frigid mother, who does not exhibit normal care or love for her child or children.

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