Noun

(monopolies)

A situation, by legal privilege or other agreement, in which solely one party (company, cartel etc.) exclusively provides a particular product or service, dominating that market and generally exerting powerful control over it.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Can China clean up fast enough? , passage=It has jailed environmental activists and is planning to limit the power of judicial oversight by handing a state-approved body a monopoly over bringing environmental lawsuits.}}

An exclusive control over the trade or production of a commodity or service through exclusive possession.

The privilege granting the exclusive right to exert such control.

(metonymy) The market thus controlled.

(metonymy) The holder (person, company or other) of such market domination in one of the the above manners.

Noun

(en noun)

In mining, a rich mine or vein of silver or gold.

The point at which two mother lodes intersect

By extension, anything which is a mine of wealth or yields a large income or return.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-31, volume=408, issue=8851, magazine=(The Economist), author=Bagehot

, title= The parable of the Clyde , passage=For two decades the bonanza on Scotland’s west coast continued. An occupation that had been seasonal and modestly profitable became year-round and lucrative. Baskets of herring put televisions into fishermen’s cottages and cars outside their doors. But fish, like oil and gas, with which Scotland’s continental shelf is also well-endowed, are not in unlimited supply.}}