bowdlerize

bowdlerize
    v 1: edit by omitting or modifying parts considered indelicate;
         "bowdlerize a novel" [syn: {bowdlerize}, {bowdlerise},
         {expurgate}, {castrate}, {shorten}]
    

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.]
    

50 Moby Thesaurus words for "bowdlerize":
      abbreviate, abridge, bleach, blot out, blue-pencil, cancel, censor,
      clean, clean out, clean up, cleanse, clear out, cross out, cut,
      delete, delouse, depurate, deterge, dry-clean, dust, dust off,
      edit, edit out, erase, expunge, expurgate, freshen, kill, lustrate,
      omit, purge, purify, reform, rescind, rub out, scavenge, spruce,
      steam-clean, strike, strike off, strike out, sweep out, sweeten,
      tidy, void, whiten, wipe, wipe off, wipe out, wipe up