[Mexican Sp., ad. Nahuatl tilmatli, in comb. tilma-.] A kind of simple cloak or blanket secured with a knot, worn by the Indians of Mexico.
1851. Mayne Reid, Scalp Hunt., x. We see mangas and tilmas, and men wearing the sandal as in Eastern lands. Ibid., xx. There were pueblos clad in their ungraceful tilmas.
1895. Daily News, 6 Nov., 3/5. The shrine of our Lady of Guadaloupe had its origin in an alleged apparition of the Madonna to an Indian, Juan Diego, in the early days of the Conquest [9 Dec. 1531]…. A picture of the Virgin is said to have appeared on the coarse tilma or cloak of the Indian.
