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Bowdlerizing

 - 4 dictionary results

bowd⋅ler⋅ize

  [bohd-luh-rahyz, boud-]
Use Bowdlerizing in a Sentence
–verb (used with object), -ized, -iz⋅ing.
to expurgate (a written work) by removing or modifying passages considered vulgar or objectionable.
Also, especially British, bowd⋅ler⋅ise.

Origin:
1830–40; after Thomas Bowdler (1754–1825), English editor of an expurgated edition of Shakespeare

Related forms:
bowd⋅ler⋅ism, noun
bowd⋅ler⋅i⋅za⋅tion, noun
bowd⋅ler⋅iz⋅er, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To Bowdlerizing
bowd·ler·ize   (bōd'lə-rīz', boud'-)   
tr.v.   bowd·ler·ized, bowd·ler·iz·ing, bowd·ler·iz·es
To remove material that is considered offensive or objectionable from (a book, for example).

[After Thomas Bowdler (1754-1825), who published an expurgated edition of Shakespeare in 1818.]
bowd'ler·ism n., bowd'ler·i·za'tion (-lər-ĭ-zā'shən) n., bowd'ler·iz'er n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Cultural Dictionary

bowdlerizing [(bohd-luh-reye-zing, bowd-luh-reye-zing)]

Amending a book by removing passages and words deemed obscene or objectionable (see obscenity). The name comes from Thomas Bowdler's 1818 edition of the plays of William Shakespeare, which was amended so that it could “be read aloud in a family.”

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

bowdlerize 
1836, from Thomas Bowdler (1754-1825), English editor who in 1818 published a notorious expurgated Shakespeare, "in which those words and expressions are omitted which cannot with propriety be read aloud in a family."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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