bowdlerize English · revision 1609

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈbaʊd.ləˌɹaɪz/ ''(UK)''; /ˈbaʊd.ləɹˌaɪz/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It was formed from the name of Thomas Bowdler (1754–1825),^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) an English editor who published an expurgated edition of Shakespeare in 1818,^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) with the suffix [[-ize]].^(Barnhart 1995)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ To expurgate a book by leaving out or changing words and passages thought indelicate or offensive (1836).^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Bowdler's Shakespeare claimed to omit only those words that could not with propriety be read aloud in a family.^(Etymonline) His name soon became shorthand for prudish censorship,^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate) and the verb later widened to modifying a text by abridging, simplifying or distorting it.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1818 – Bowdler's ''Family Shakespeare''.^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1836 – ''bowdlerize''.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)

+ * 1869 – ''bowdlerism'', ''bowdlerization''.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[expurgate]] a text prudishly by removing or changing passages thought vulgar or offensive.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To change a text by shortening, simplifying or distorting it.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[bowdlerism]]

+ * [[bowdlerizer]]

+ * [[bowdlerization]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[expurgate]]

+ * [[censor]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}