Dictionary

lace: Long used by wily young ladies who would drop their handkerchiefs in order to encourage a gentlemen to pick it up and return it in the hopes of an introduction, it became a popular adornment in paper form for Valentine cards and candy boxes.

language of flowers: Of Persian origin and introduced in Europe by Sweden's Charles II, this was a "dictionary" of sorts explaining the meanings and messages behind each flower, thus giving suitors ways to send secret messages by way of floral bouquets.

lottery: A part of the Lupercalia festival in which young girls would place their names in an urn and males would draw to determine which female they would spend the following days or year with and a ritual that sometimes led to marriage.

lovebirds: Popularized members of the parrot family that mate for life and symbolized because of their tendency to perch closely together and nuzzle each other.