Other forms: airbrushed, airbrushing, airbrushes
To airbrush is to smooth a picture until the flaws vanish. Airbrushed photographs, airbrush the image, airbrushed out of history.
The literal tool sprays paint in a fine mist, and retouching with it is where the figurative sense comes from. Airbrushed out of history describes the Soviet practice of removing people from official photographs after they fell from favour.
1verbairbrushTo smooth a picture until the flaws vanish.
“The magazine airbrushed the model's photos to remove every wrinkle and freckle.”
airbrush is a retouching.
From air + brush.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA