Trump Claims New FBI Investigation May Reveal "Mother Lode" of Emails

Mother lode spiked in lookups on October 31 following a widely reported remark made by Donald Trump at a campaign stop. He was speaking about the recent FBI announcement that a laptop used by an aide to Hillary Clinton will be searched to see if any emails found on it reveal classified information.

Trump said: “This could be the mother lode.”

Mother lode in this context means “a principal source or supply.” It originally was used in reference to mining, meaning “the place where the largest amount of gold, silver, etc. in a particular area can be found,” and referred to underground ore deposits known as lodes or veins. Lode goes back to an Old English word that meant “path,” “waterway,” or “canal,” and came to refer to a deposit of ore that fills a rock fissure. It was initially used in the mid-1800s to refer to quartz mines in California.

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