"important vein of an ore or mineral in rock," 1849, from mother (n.1) + lode (n.); said to be a translation of Mexican Spanish veta madre, a name given to rich silver veins. The American use is first in reference to a conspicuous vein of quartz rich in gold discovered during the gold rush in the Sierra Nevada of California. The colloquial or figurative sense of "richest source of something" is by 1916.
also main-line, "inject (drugs) intravenously," 1934, from main line in American English slang sense "principal vein into which drugs can be injected" (1933).
early 15c., from Latin varicosus "with dilated veins," from varix (genitive varicis) "dilated vein," from varus "bent outward, bow-legged," which is of uncertain origin (see vary).
1747, a mining word, from Low German stope "a step," apparently cognate with step (n.). As a verb from 1778, "remove the contents of a vein," literally "to cut in stopes." Related: Stoped; stoping.
*gwhī-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "thread, tendon."
It forms all or part of: defile (n.) "narrow passage;" enfilade; filament; file (v.1) "place (papers) in consecutive order for future reference;" filigree; filipendulous; fillet; profile.
It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Avestan jya- "bowstring;" Latin filum "a thread, string;" Armenian jil "sinew, string, line;" Lithuanian gysla "vein, sinew;" Old Church Slavonic zila "vein."
1670s, in botany, "rootlet, part of the embryo of a plant which develops into the primary root," from Latin radicula, diminutive of radix "root" (from PIE root *wrād- "branch, root"). Anatomical sense of "branch of a nerve, vein, etc. resembling a root" is by 1830.
1590s, "pertaining to the throat or neck" (especially and originally in reference to the great veins of the neck), from Modern Latin jugularis, from Latin iugulum "collarbone, throat, neck," diminutive of iugum "yoke" (from PIE root *yeug- "to join"). As a noun, 1610s, short for jugular vein.
"blood-letting," c. 1400, flebotomye, fleobotomie, from Old French flebotomie (13c., Modern French phlébotomie) and directly from Medieval Latin phlebotomia, from Greek phlebotomia "blood-letting," from phlebotomos "opening veins," from phleps (genitive phlebos) "a vein" (a word of uncertain origin) + tomē "a cutting" (from PIE root *tem- "to cut").
"a turning aside," 1838, in railway use, from shunt (v.). It was used by technicians in the sense of "circuit introduced to diminish the current through the main circuit" by 1863. Medical use, "natural or artificial route from a vein to an artery," is by 1923. In Middle English it meant "a sudden jerk or swerve" (late 14c.).
