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bastardize - 3 dictionary results

bas⋅tard⋅ize

  [bas-ter-dahyz] verb, -ized, iz⋅ing.
Use bastardize in a Sentence
–verb (used with object)
1. to lower in condition or worth; debase: hybrid works that neither preserve nor bastardize existing art forms.
2. to declare or prove (someone) to be a bastard.
3. Australian. to harass or humiliate as part of initiation into a college or regiment.
–verb (used without object)
4. to become debased.
Also, especially British, bas⋅tard⋅ise.

Origin:
1580–90; bastard + -ize

Related forms:
bas⋅tard⋅i⋅za⋅tion, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To bastardize
bas·tard·ize   (bās'tər-dīz')   
tr.v.   bas·tard·ized, bas·tard·iz·ing, bas·tard·iz·es
  1. To lower in quality or character; debase.
  2. To declare or prove (someone) to be a bastard.
bas'tard·i·za'tion (-tər-dĭ-zā'shən) 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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Bastardize

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.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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