bowdlerize

Apparently, to bowdlerize Coco Chanel, elegance really has been refusal.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2018

To bowdlerize Benjamin Franklin, in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death, taxes, and Arsenal finishing in the top four.

From The Guardian ● Apr. 26, 2017

The rush to bowdlerize  what Biden had said turned  a glancing tap of the bruise into a grinding fist.

From Slate ● May 9, 2012

Ives managed to talk 20th Century-Fox out of tampering with The Blue-Tail Fly, though he did have to bowdlerize his other favorite, Foggy, Foggy Dew, an old Irish ballad.

From Time Magazine Archive

I cannot, unfortunately, bowdlerize the best of these without spoiling them, so I will endeavor to give a few examples of the less forceful.

From Reminiscences of a South African Pioneer by W. C. (William Charles) Scully

Also, and not incidentally, the river is named for the tribe whose chief’s bowdlerized name became that of the city.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 2, 2020

But their similarities, which are marked, reflect a narrow, bowdlerized view of modern American history with which Robin Bissell, the writer and director of “The Best of Enemies,” is positioning the film.

From The New Yorker ● Apr. 4, 2019

Since its publication in 1862, Victor Hugo’s masterpiece has been pirated, doctored, distorted, bowdlerized and flat-out betrayed by publishers, translators, filmmakers and musical impresarios from around the globe.

From New York Times ● Apr. 6, 2017

Charlotte bowdlerized one of Emily’s poems and tried to spin Emily as a primitive in her introduction to the 1850 reissue of her sisters’ novels.

From Washington Post ● Feb. 24, 2016

"It's always the same," she remarked with indignation, when with forced facetiousness he had given her an extremely imperfect and bowdlerized account of his evening.

From Mr. Prohack by Arnold Bennett

But, as Samartzis admitted with a grin, bowdlerizing wind from the breeziest place in the world wasn’t very authentic.

From New York Times ● Mar. 16, 2023

When Televisa tried bowdlerizing the footage with a pro-government spin, he destroyed the tape and resigned, effectively blacklisting himself.

From New York Times ● Sep. 25, 2015

All the candidates have taken what was once a very specific ideology and extracted their favorite parts, selectively interpreting the vision and generally bowdlerizing it.

From Washington Post ● May 15, 2015

Note that, in railing against the bowdlerizing of the film's language, Ebert censored himself.

From Time ● Apr. 4, 2011

But despite bowdlerizing content, my family has been entirely faithful about visiting.

From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen