Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

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.

         It is a grave defect in the splendid tale of Tom Jones
         . . . that a Bowlderized version of it would be hardly
         intelligible as a tale.                  --F. Harrison.
   -- {Bowd`ler*i*za"tion}, n. -- {Bowd"ler*ism}, n.

Source : WordNet®

Bowdlerism
     n : censorship in the form of prudish expurgation