ETYM AS. lâd way, journey, from lîthan to go. Related to Lead to guide, and cf. Load a burden.
(Homonym: lode)
A deposit of valuable ore occurring within definite boundaries separating it from surrounding rocks; SYN. load.
Vein of ore. Geological deposit rich in certain minerals, generally consisting of a large vein or set of veins containing ore minerals. A system of veins that can be mined directly forms a lode, for example the mother lode of the California gold rush.
Lodes form because hot hydrothermal liquids and gases from magmas penetrate surrounding rocks, especially when these are limestones; on cooling, veins of ores formed from the magma then extend from the igneous mass into the local rock.
1. Filon.
2. Chance.
ETYM Old Eng. veine, French veine, Latin vena.
In animals with a circulatory system, any vessel that carries blood from the body to the heart. Veins contain valves that prevent the blood from running back when moving against gravity. They always carry deoxygenated blood, with the exception of the veins leading from the lungs to the heart in birds and mammals, which carry newly oxygenated blood.
The term is also used more loosely for any system of channels that strengthens living tissues and supplies them with nutrients —for example, leaf veins (see vascular bundle), and the veins in insects' wings.
(Homonym: vain, vein).
1. A blood vessel that carries blood from the capillaries toward the heart; all veins except the pulmonary carry unaerated blood; SYN. vena.
2. A distinctive style or manner.
3. One of the horny ribs that stiffen and support the wing of an insect; SYN. nervure.
4. One of the vascular bundles or ribs that form the branching framework of conducting and supporting tissues in a leaf or other plant organ; SYN. nervure.
ETYM Akin to Dutch luk, geluk, German glück, Icel. lukka, Swed. lycka, Dan. lykke, and perh. to German locken to entice. Related to Gleck.
1. An unknown and unpredictable phenomenon that causes an event to result one way rather than another; SYN. fortune, chance, hazard.
2. An unknown and unpredictable phenomenon that leads to a favorable outcome; SYN. fortune.