gladiatress

noun

1. A female gladiator.

   “What did ſhe ſee to doat upon the ſtile / Of Gladiatreſs? […] Mævia (a Gladiatreſs) fights with a wilde Boar, 21”

   “Oh! nobly train’d and tutor’d by this art / To take at Flora’s ſhows the harlot’s part, / Unleſs it be her purpoſe to engage / As real gladiatreſs on the ſtage!”

   “Amidst all the contests of the day, we learn nothing of that illustrious gladiatress, Mrs Anne Royal.”

   “From the disgusting to the ridiculous there is but one step, as exemplified in Rome by the combats of dwarfs, which diverted the people exceedingly, especially when any one of them engaged with a gladiatress.”

   “M. Papillon—The combat is superb! It inflames me! Madame Papillon, will you have a bout with me? Madame Papillon—You are mad. Do you think I am a gladiatress?”