[as if a. L. *expurgātor, agent-n. f. expurgāre: see EXPURGATE.] One who expurgates or purifies; esp. one who strikes out objectionable passages from books.
1638. Ld. G. Digby, Lett. conc. Religion (1651), 3. Eusebius, Epiphanius, and St. Augustine … may well be by both sides allowed an Expurgator.
1688. R. Jenkin, Hist. Exam. Councils, I. § 3. 6. Henricus Buxhornius … was one of the principal Expurgators.
1760. Jortin, Erasm., II. 283. The inoffensive book of Grotius … was put amongst the Libri Prohibiti, by those Expurgators.
1811. Southey, in Q. Rev., VI. 333. The expurgator of the book.
1861. Life & Corr. Bacon, xix. 387. He has not merely procured Coke’s dismissal … but has had himself appointed expurgator to his Reports.
