Definition of "bowdlerize" [bowd•ler•ize]

• To remove material that is considered offensive or objectionable from (a book, for example). (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "His actions did spawn the term "bowdlerize," which means to gut a work of literature."
• "Who is anyone to expurgate or bowdlerize the word of God?"
• "They take an idea, bowdlerize it, blow it up, make it infantile and spend $100 million to give people a brief escape from their boring and often demeaning lives at work."