matilda

plural matildas · alternative Matilda

1. AustraliaA bundle of possessions, often tied up in a sack; a swag.

   When a hobo roams through the outback with a matilda on his back, he is said to be “waltzing matilda.”

   1999, Milton Finkelstein, Global geography

   1 more example

   1906, A. B. Paterson, On The Road to Gundagai, The Old Bush Songs, Gutenberg eBook #10493, In a week the spree was over and the cheque was all knocked down, / So we shouldered our “Matildas,” and we turned our backs on town, / And the girls they stood a nobbler as we sadly said “Good bye,” / And we tramped from Lazy Harry’s, not five miles from Gundagai;

alternative Mathilda

1. A female given name from the Germanic languages.

   But wondrously begotten, and begonne / By false illusion of a guilefull Spright, / On a faire Ladie Nonne, that whilome hight / Matilda, daughter to Pubidius, […]

   1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 13

   2 more examples

   Countess of Laussitz - Matilda, too, by the mark! A good name, a marvellous good name, is not, Algernon? Musical, pretty, soft, smoothing, loveable. - - - many a fair prospect is spoiled by the mistake in the name. Call Matilda Joan, or Louisa Deborah, and you are ruined forever!

   1844, George Payne Rainsford James, Rose D'Albret, Or, Troublous Times, a Romance, Harper, page 20

   At one time Joan invented other names for her. 'Matilda' brought to mind dingy curtains, gray tent flaps, a slack-skinned old woman. How about Sharon? Lilliane? Elizabeth? Then, Joan didn't know how, the name Matilda became transformed. It started shining like silver. The "il" in it was silver. But not metallic. In Joan's mind the name gleamed now like a fold of satin.

   1990, Alice Munro, Friend of My Youth, .Stories, →ISBN, page 187

plural Matildas · alternative Mathilda

1. UKhistoricalgovernmentEither of two British infantry tanks in use during World War II, the Infantry Tank Mark I or Infantry Tank Mark II.

   Synonyms: Matilda I, Matilda II

2. AustraliahistoricalA swag or bluey carried by a swagman or swagwoman.

   Oh there once was a swagman camped in the billabong, Under the shade of a coolibah tree, And he sang as he looked at the old billy boiling, 'Who'll come a'waltzing Matilda, with me.'

   1895, “Waltzing Matilda”, Banjo Paterson (lyrics)