BASTARDIZE

bastardize, bastardise

(verb) declare a child to be illegitimate

bastardize, bastardise

(verb) change something so that its value declines; for example, art forms

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Verb

bastardize (third-person singular simple present bastardizes, present participle bastardizing, simple past and past participle bastardized)

To claim or demonstrate that someone is a bastard, or illegitimate.

To reduce from a higher to a lower state, such as by removing refined elements or introducing debased elements; to debase.

To beget out of wedlock.

Synonyms

• (introduce debased elements into): mongrelize

Source: Wiktionary

Bas"tard*ize, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bastardized (p. pr. & vb. n. Bastardizing.]

1. To make or prove to be a bastard; to stigmatize as a bastard; to declare or decide legally to be illegitimate. The law is so indulgent as not to bastardize the child, if born, though not begotten, in lawful wedlock. Blackstone.

2. To beget out of wedlock. [R.] Shak.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition