[syn: bowdlerization, bowdlerisation]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
bowdlerization \bowdlerization\ n.
the deletion of all passages considered to be indecent.
Syn: bowdlerisation, expurgation.
[WordNet 1.5]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
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.]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
bowdlerization
n 1: written material that has been bowdlerized [syn:
bowdlerization, bowdlerisation]
2: the act of deleting or modifying all passages considered to
be indecent [syn: bowdlerization, bowdlerisation]