BOWDLERIZE

bowdlerize, bowdlerise, expurgate, castrate, shorten

(verb) edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate; “bowdlerize a novel”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Verb

bowdlerize (third-person singular simple present bowdlerizes, present participle bowdlerizing, simple past and past participle bowdlerized)

To remove or alter those parts of a text considered offensive, vulgar, or otherwise unseemly.

Verb

Bowdlerize (third-person singular simple present Bowdlerizes, present participle Bowdlerizing, simple past and past participle Bowdlerized)

Alternative form of bowdlerize

Source: Wiktionary

Bowd"ler*ize, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bowdlerized; p. pr. & vb. n. Bowdlerizing.] [After Dr. Thomas Bowdler, an English physician, who published an expurgated edition of Shakespeare in 1818.]

Definition: To expurgate, as a book, by omitting or modifying the parts considered offensive.

It is a grave defect in the splendid tale of Tom Jones . . . that a Bowlderized version of it would be hardly intelligible as a tale. F. Harrison.

– Bowd`ler*i*za"tion (#), n. --Bowd"ler*ism (#), n.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition