Also 9 tortillia. [Sp. dim. of torta cake: see TORTA.] In Mexico, A thin round cake made of maize-flour, baked on a flat plate of iron, earthenware, etc., and eaten hot.
1699. Dampier, Voy., II. II. 43. Tartilloes are small Cakes made of the Flower of Indian Corn.
1828. Lyon, Mexico, x. II. 142. Obliged to seek … for some woman, who will make a few tortillas or a dish of black beans.
1842. New World, 11 June, 373/3. Maiz … is chiefly used in the Tortillia cakes, of which we hear so much in Mexico … a tortillia is indispensable at least once a day for all classes.
1854. J. Ll. Stephens, Centr. Amer., 29. The people live exclusively upon tortillas, flat cakes made of crushed Indian Corn, and baked on a clay griddle.
1888. Lees & Clutterbuck, Brit. Columbia 1887, xxii. (1892), 239. One of our favourite luxuries is the tortilla (pronounced torteea).
