'Bowdlerize' definitions:
Definition of 'bowdlerize'
(from WordNet)
verb
Edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate; "bowdlerize a novel" [syn: bowdlerize, bowdlerise, expurgate, castrate, shorten]
Definition of 'Bowdlerize'
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.]
Synonyms of 'bowdlerize'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- abbreviate,
- abridge,
- bleach,
- blot out,
- blue-pencil,
- cancel,
- censor,
- clean,
- clean out,
- clean up,
- cleanse,
- clear out,
- cross out,
- cut,
- delete,
- delouse,
- depurate,
- deterge,
- dry-clean,
- dust,
- dust off,
- edit,
- edit out,
- erase,
- expunge,
- expurgate,
- freshen,
- kill,
- lustrate,
- omit,
- purge,
- purify,
- reform,
- rescind,
- rub out,
- scavenge,
- spruce,
- steam-clean,
- strike,
- strike off,
- strike out,
- sweep out,
- sweeten,
- tidy,
- void,
- whiten,
- wipe,
- wipe off,
- wipe out,
- wipe up