Lode

Pronunciation

• RP IPA: /ləʊd/
• Rhymes: -əʊd

Origin

Etymologically identical with load, which has however become semantically restricted.

The now-archaic lode continues the old sense of Old English lád "way, course, journey" but by the 19th century survived only dialectally in the sense of "watercourse", as a technical term in mining, and in the compounds lodestone, lodestar.

Full definition of lode

Noun

1. (obsolete) A way or path; a road.
2. (dialectal) a watercourse
3. (mining) A vein of metallic ore that lies within definite boundaries, or within a fissure.
4. (by extension) A rich source of supply.

Related terms

• lodestar
• loadstone
• mother lode

Anagrams

• dole, leod, olde, OLED