'Bowdlerism' definitions:
Definition of 'Bowdlerism'
(from WordNet)
noun
Censorship in the form of prudish expurgation
Definition of 'Bowdlerism'
From: GCIDE
- Bowdlerize \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.] To expurgate, as a book, by omitting or modifying the parts considered offensive; to remove morally objectionable parts; -- said of literary texts.
- Syn: bowdlerise, expurgate, shorten, cut. [1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5]
- It is a grave defect in the splendid tale of Tom Jones . . . that a Bowdlerized version of it would be hardly intelligible as a tale. --F. Harrison. [1913 Webster] -- {Bowd`ler*i*za"tion}, n. -- {Bowd"ler*ism}, n. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]