footholder

English

Etymology

From foot +‎ holder.

Noun

footholder (plural footholders)

1. (mythology) In Welsh mythology, a virgin maiden tasked with holding a warrior's feet in her lap.
   • 2018, Robin Chapman Stacey, Law and the Imagination in Medieval Wales, page 146:

     One particularly difficult figure is the king's footholder, the problems with which have already been clearly delineated by McKenna.

   • Antón Bousquet, The World of the Gauls: Foundation(s) of a Celtic Philosophy (page 253)

     After the rape of his “footholder,” the king tries to find another maiden who could be used for this purpose.