noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A female virgin who had chosen to fight as a warrior in battle. Norse

   "The shield-maiden (skölde-mö) was dedicated to Odin, and forbidden to wed; her love brought calamity."

Synonyms

All synonyms

shield-maidshield-mayshieldmaidshieldmay

Example

More examples

"The shield-maiden (skölde-mö) was dedicated to Odin, and forbidden to wed; her love brought calamity."

Etymology

From shield + maiden. Calque from Old Norse skjaldmær (“shieldmaiden”).

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.