shield-bearer
nounEtymology From Middle English scheeld-berere, equivalent to shield + bearer.
1
A person who carries a shield, either a warrior, or a lower-ranking person who carries a shield for a higher-ranking person.
- “Never have shield-bearers so grim of face ever landed before on out shores!”1961, Norma Lorre Goodrich, “Beowulf”, in The Medieval Myths, New York: The New American Library, page 23:
- The wise king mounted the royal saddle and rode out in style with a force of shield-bearers.1999, Seamus Heaney, Beowulf, London: Faber and Faber, page 46: