Valkyrn.

1775 T. Warton Hist. Eng. Poetry (ed. 2) I. Dissertation 1 The departed heroes received cups of the strongest mead and ale from the hands of the virgin-goddesses called Valkyres.

1818 H. H. Milman Samor iii. 53 Queen of the Future, Valkyr, hear and speak, Speak to the Son of Woden.

1841 T. Carlyle On Heroes i. 50 The Valkyrs are Choosers of the Slain.

1863 C. M. Yonge Hist. Christian Names II. vi. ii. 236 The legend of an elder Offa..whose wife was almost certainly a Valkyr, who, on her marriage, lost her supernatural strength.

1920 J. Huneker Bedouins iv. 38 We were not surprised to find Brunhilde pleading, or to hear the chorus shrilly cry out the Valkyr theme.

1935 C. P. Gilman Living of Charlotte Perkins Gilman xvi. 240 No acting, no singing, can make a middle-aged, portly woman like Madame Nordica, leading a tame old white horse of which she is visibly afraid, look like a Valkyr.