| 释义 |
bowdlerize, v.|ˈbaʊdləraɪz|
[f. the name of Dr. T. Bowdler, who in 1818 published an edition of Shakespeare, ‘in which those words and expressions are omitted which cannot with propriety be read aloud in a family’: see -ize.]
trans. To expurgate (a book or writing), by omitting or modifying words or passages considered indelicate or offensive; to castrate.
1836Gen. P. Thompson Let. in Exerc. (1842) IV. 124 Among the names..are many, like Hermes, Nereus..which modern ultra-christians would have thought formidably heathenish; while Epaphroditus and Narcissus they would probably have Bowdlerized. 1869Westm. Rev. Jan., It is gratifying to add that Mr. Dallas has resisted the temptation to Bowdlerize. 1881Saintsbury Dryden 9 Evil counsellors who wished him to bowdlerise glorious John. 1883Ch. Times 703/4 It [Henry IV] is Bowdlerized, to be sure, but that is no evil for school purposes.
Hence ˈbowdlerism, ˌbowdleriˈzation, ˈbowdlerized ppl. a., ˈbowdlerizer, ˈbowdlerizing, vbl. n. and ppl. a.
1869Pall Mall G. 4 Aug. 12 We doubt whether Juvenal..can be read with advantage at the age when Bowdlerism, as a moral precaution, would be desirable. 1878Athenæum 6 Apr., False squeamishness or inclination to Bowdlerism. 1882Westm. Rev. Apr. 583 The bowdlerization..is done in an exceedingly awkward and clumsy fashion. 1879F. Harrison Choice Bks. (1886) 63 A Bowdlerised version of it would be hardly intelligible as a tale. 1886Huxley in 19th Cent. Apr. 489 We may fairly inquire whether editorial Bowdlerising has not prevailed over historic truth. |