A surname from Middle English.

plural of lode

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

plural of mother lode

plural of mother-lode

Alternative form of mother lode

(geology) A large or rich vein of gold or of another precious mineral from which other branches extend. / (idiomatic, by extension) Any source of valuable or useful material.

(astronomy) Polaris, the most used lodestar of the northern sky.

(historical, nautical) A pilot; navigator.

(historical, rare) A kind of boat in use in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, possibly a pilot boat.