Word of the Day: Valentine
valentine
val-en-tine / văl-ən-tīn
noun
1. a greeting card expressing love and affection, sent on February 14, Saint Valentine’s Day
Never sign a valentine with your own name.
Charles Dickens, 1812 – 1870
2. a person that one considers to be a sweetheart, and to whom one sends a card expressing love or affection on February 14
Oh, if it be to choose and call thee mine, love, thou art every day my Valentine!
Thomas Hood, 1799 – 1845
3. a poem, message, or work of art that expresses love or affection
A something whispered in my ear,
Compose a Valentine,
And send to thy only dear,
For then she may be thine.
I have composed this Valentine,
And send it love, to thee,
And if, sweet maid, thou wilt be mine,
Thy Valentine I’ll be.
From “The New Valentine Writer, or Mirror of Love”, 1840
4. Valentine, a saint who was martyred in the 3rd century AD in Rome during the reign of Emperor Claudius II
St. Valentine is the Patron Saint of affianced couples, bee keepers, engaged couples, epilepsy, fainting, greetings, happy marriages, love, lovers, plague, travellers, and young people.
www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=159, accessed January 17, 2023
