lode

[lohd] /loʊd/
noun
1.
a veinlike deposit, usually metalliferous.
2.
any body of ore set off from adjacent rock formations.
3.
a rich supply or source.
4.
British. a waterway or channel.
Origin
before 900; Middle English; Old English lād way, course, carrying; cognate with Old Norse leith way, route, Old High German leita procession. See load, lade, lead1
Can be confused
load, lode.
Examples from the web for lode
  • But there's already a growing lode of biometric data on travelers.
  • Combine that with the ready lode of oxygen-rich ilmenite, and you've got a prime spot for a future moon base.
  • Beneath the artifacts of camp and cape, they located a rich lode of myth.
  • There are two types of mining claims, lode and placer.
  • The cornerstones of this collection are the gold placer and lode gold manuscripts.
British Dictionary definitions for lode

lode

/ləʊd/
noun
1.
a deposit of valuable ore occurring between definite limits in the surrounding rock; vein
2.
a deposit of metallic ore filling a fissure in the surrounding rock
Word Origin
Old English lād course. Compare load
Word Origin and History for lode
n.

original Middle English spelling of load (n.), and custodian of most of the original meaning of "way, course, carrying." Differentiation in sense took place 16c. Mining sense of "vein of metal ore" is from c.1600, from notion of miners "following" it through the rock.

lode in Science
lode
  (lōd)   
A vein of mineral ore that is deposited between clearly demarcated layers of rock or that fills a fissure in a rock formation.
Encyclopedia Article for lode

in geology, ore body that is disseminated within definite boundaries in unwanted rock or minerals (gangue). The term, as used by geologists, is nearly synonymous with the term lode, as used by miners. There are two distinct types: fissure veins and ladder veins.

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