Definition of "bowdlerize"
bowdlerize
verb
third-person singular simple present bowdlerizes, present participle bowdlerizing, simple past and past participle bowdlerized
To remove or alter those parts of a text considered offensive, vulgar, or otherwise unseemly.
Quotations
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."
1909, H. G. Wells, chapter 1, in Ann Veronica
"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.’"
1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, chapter 2, in The Lost World […], London, New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton