Definition of "shieldmaiden"

shieldmaiden

noun
plural shieldmaidens
1. (Norse mythology) A female virgin who had chosen to fight as a warrior in battle.
  Quotations
  The shield-maiden (skölde-mö) was dedicated to Odin, and forbidden to wed; her love brought calamity.
  1845 , Erik Gustaf Geijer, translated by J. H. Turner, The History of the Swedes, London: Whittaker and Co., Ave Maria Lane, translation of Svenska folkets historia (in Swedish), page 33
  The Anglosaxon belief in the Shieldmaidens comes to us indeed in a darkened form, yet we can hardly doubt that it survived.
  1849, John Mitchell Kemble, The Saxons in England
  Störkud rushed through the ranks with a drawn sword and killed one after another; he cut down Hjört; whereupon Visma, shieldmaiden, who carried the standard of Harald, met him.
  1890, Paul Belloni Du Chaillu, The Viking Age: The Early History, Manners, and Customs of the Ancestors of the English-speaking Nations, volume 2
  There goes a lord who tamed a wild shieldmaiden of the North!
  1955, J. R. R. Tolkien, The Return of the King, page 262