Bowdlerize
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: /ˈbaʊd.lə.ˌɹaɪz/
Alternative forms
Origin
From Thomas Bowdler, who in 1818 published a censored version of Shakespeare, expurgating "those words and expressions... which cannot with propriety be read aloud in a family."
Full definition of bowdlerize
Verb
- To remove or alter those parts of a text considered offensive, vulgar, or otherwise unseemly.The bowdlerized version of the novel, while free of vulgarity, was also free of flavor.
- 1909, H. G. Wells, Ann Veronica, ch. 1:Mr. Stanley decided to treat that as irrelevant. "There ought to be a Censorship of Books." . . .Ogilvy pursued his own topic. "I'm inclined to think, Stanley, myself that as a matter of fact it was the expurgated Romeo and Juliet did the mischief. . . . All they left it was the moon and stars. And the balcony and ‘My Romeo!’""Shakespeare is altogether different from the modern stuff. Altogether different. I'm not discussing Shakespeare. I don't want to Bowdlerize Shakespeare."
- 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World, ch. 2:"Wadley sent a message: ‘The President of the Zoological Institute presents his compliments to Professor Challenger, and would take it as a personal favor if he would do them the honor to come to their next meeting.’ The answer was unprintable.""You don't say?""Well, a bowdlerized version of it would run: ‘Professor Challenger presents his compliments to the President of the Zoological Institute, and would take it as a personal favor if he would go to the devil.’"
- 1961, J. A. Philip, "Mimesis in the Sophistês of Plato," Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, vol. 92, p. 455:His critics take alarm only when it becomes apparent that he would bowdlerize Homer and exclude from his state the great tragedians.