bowdlerize definition | Dictionary.com

bowd⋅ler⋅ize

[bohd-luh-rahyz, boud-]

Use bowdlerize 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 bowdlerize

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.
Cite This Source

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.

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.

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."

Search another word or see bowdlerize on Thesaurus | Reference

About · Privacy Policy · Terms of Use · Advertise with Us · Link to Us · NASCAR® · Contact Us