diff --git a/doc/api/axes_api.rst b/doc/api/axes_api.rst
index 0e321bf7d6a0..c7a363b08a1e 100644
--- a/doc/api/axes_api.rst
+++ b/doc/api/axes_api.rst
@@ -509,8 +509,6 @@ Interactive
    Axes.contains_point
 
    Axes.get_cursor_data
-   Axes.get_cursor_props
-   Axes.set_cursor_props
 
 Children
 ========
diff --git a/doc/api/next_api_changes/2018-02-26-AL-removals.rst b/doc/api/next_api_changes/2018-02-26-AL-removals.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..5985f5d0c250
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/api/next_api_changes/2018-02-26-AL-removals.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+Removal of deprecated APIs
+``````````````````````````
+The following deprecated API elements have been removed:
+
+- ``matplotlib.checkdep_tex``, ``matplotlib.checkdep_xmllint``,
+- ``backend_bases.IdleEvent``,
+- ``cbook.converter``, ``cbook.tostr``, ``cbook.todatetime``, ``cbook.todate``,
+  ``cbook.tofloat``, ``cbook.toint``, ``cbook.unique``,
+  ``cbook.is_string_like``, ``cbook.is_sequence_of_strings``,
+  ``cbook.is_scalar``, ``cbook.soundex``, ``cbook.dict_delall``,
+  ``cbook.get_split_ind``, ``cbook.wrap``, ``cbook.get_recursive_filelist``,
+  ``cbook.pieces``, ``cbook.exception_to_str``, ``cbook.allequal``,
+  ``cbook.alltrue``, ``cbook.onetrue``, ``cbook.allpairs``, ``cbook.finddir``,
+  ``cbook.reverse_dict``, ``cbook.restrict_dict``, ``cbook.issubclass_safe``,
+  ``cbook.recursive_remove``, ``cbook.unmasked_index_ranges``,
+  ``cbook.Null``, ``cbook.RingBuffer``, ``cbook.Sorter``, ``cbook.Xlator``,
+- ``font_manager.weight_as_number``, ``font_manager.ttfdict_to_fnames``,
+- ``pyplot.colors``,
+- ``rcsetup.validate_negative_linestyle``,
+  ``rcsetup.validate_negative_linestyle_legacy``,
+- ``testing.compare.verifiers``, ``testing.compare.verify``,
+- ``testing.decorators.knownfailureif``,
+  ``testing.decorators.ImageComparisonTest.remove_text``,
+- ``tests.assert_str_equal``, ``tests.test_tinypages.file_same``,
+- ``texmanager.dvipng_hack_alpha``,
+- ``_AxesBase.axesPatch``, ``_AxesBase.get_cursor_props``,
+  ``_AxesBase.set_cursor_props``,
+- ``_ImageBase.iterpnames``,
+- ``Figure.figurePatch``,
+- ``FigureCanvasBase.dynamic_update``, ``FigureCanvasBase.idle_event``,
+  ``FigureCanvasBase.get_linestyle``, ``FigureCanvasBase.set_linestyle``,
+- ``FigureCanvasQTAgg.blitbox``,
+- passing ``frac`` to ``PolarAxes.set_theta_grids``,
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py b/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py
index a5b8249f88c0..99a6dcc4b15a 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py
@@ -459,23 +459,6 @@ def checkdep_ghostscript():
 checkdep_ghostscript.version = None
 
 
-# Deprecated, as it is unneeded and some distributions (e.g. MiKTeX 2.9.6350)
-# do not actually report the TeX version.
-@cbook.deprecated("2.1")
-def checkdep_tex():
-    try:
-        s = subprocess.Popen([str('tex'), '-version'], stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
-                             stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
-        stdout, stderr = s.communicate()
-        line = stdout.decode('ascii').split('\n')[0]
-        pattern = r'3\.1\d+'
-        match = re.search(pattern, line)
-        v = match.group(0)
-        return v
-    except (IndexError, ValueError, AttributeError, OSError):
-        return None
-
-
 def checkdep_pdftops():
     try:
         s = subprocess.Popen([str('pdftops'), '-v'], stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
@@ -509,23 +492,6 @@ def checkdep_inkscape():
 checkdep_inkscape.version = None
 
 
-@cbook.deprecated("2.1")
-def checkdep_xmllint():
-    try:
-        s = subprocess.Popen([str('xmllint'), '--version'],
-                             stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
-                             stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
-        stdout, stderr = s.communicate()
-        lines = stderr.decode('ascii').split('\n')
-        for line in lines:
-            if 'version' in line:
-                v = line.split()[-1]
-                break
-        return v
-    except (IndexError, ValueError, UnboundLocalError, OSError):
-        return None
-
-
 def checkdep_ps_distiller(s):
     if not s:
         return False
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/axes/_base.py b/lib/matplotlib/axes/_base.py
index f765ad0569e4..1a93adb2faee 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/axes/_base.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/axes/_base.py
@@ -40,9 +40,6 @@
 
 rcParams = matplotlib.rcParams
 
-is_string_like = cbook.is_string_like
-is_sequence_of_strings = cbook.is_sequence_of_strings
-
 _hold_msg = """axes.hold is deprecated.
     See the API Changes document (http://matplotlib.org/api/api_changes.html)
     for more details."""
@@ -1131,11 +1128,6 @@ def cla(self):
 
         self.stale = True
 
-    @property
-    @cbook.deprecated("2.1", alternative="Axes.patch")
-    def axesPatch(self):
-        return self.patch
-
     def clear(self):
         """Clear the axes."""
         self.cla()
@@ -4043,38 +4035,6 @@ def format_deltas(key, dx, dy):
         self.set_xlim(points[:, 0])
         self.set_ylim(points[:, 1])
 
-    @cbook.deprecated("2.1")
-    def get_cursor_props(self):
-        """
-        Return the cursor propertiess as a (*linewidth*, *color*)
-        tuple, where *linewidth* is a float and *color* is an RGBA
-        tuple
-        """
-        return self._cursorProps
-
-    @cbook.deprecated("2.1")
-    def set_cursor_props(self, *args):
-        """Set the cursor property as
-
-        Call signature ::
-
-          ax.set_cursor_props(linewidth, color)
-
-        or::
-
-          ax.set_cursor_props((linewidth, color))
-
-        ACCEPTS: a (*float*, *color*) tuple
-        """
-        if len(args) == 1:
-            lw, c = args[0]
-        elif len(args) == 2:
-            lw, c = args
-        else:
-            raise ValueError('args must be a (linewidth, color) tuple')
-        c = mcolors.to_rgba(c)
-        self._cursorProps = lw, c
-
     def get_children(self):
         """return a list of child artists"""
         children = []
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/backend_bases.py b/lib/matplotlib/backend_bases.py
index 2fe2ad59ac42..59b9246698fc 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/backend_bases.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/backend_bases.py
@@ -954,14 +954,6 @@ def get_joinstyle(self):
         """
         return self._joinstyle
 
-    @cbook.deprecated("2.1")
-    def get_linestyle(self):
-        """
-        Return the linestyle: one of ('solid', 'dashed', 'dashdot',
-        'dotted').
-        """
-        return self._linestyle
-
     def get_linewidth(self):
         """
         Return the line width in points as a scalar
@@ -1105,17 +1097,6 @@ def set_linewidth(self, w):
         """
         self._linewidth = float(w)
 
-    @cbook.deprecated("2.1")
-    def set_linestyle(self, style):
-        """
-        Set the linestyle to be one of ('solid', 'dashed', 'dashdot',
-        'dotted'). These are defined in the rcParams
-        `lines.dashed_pattern`, `lines.dashdot_pattern` and
-        `lines.dotted_pattern`.  One may also specify customized dash
-        styles by providing a tuple of (offset, dash pairs).
-        """
-        self._linestyle = style
-
     def set_url(self, url):
         """
         Sets the url for links in compatible backends
@@ -1406,14 +1387,6 @@ def __init__(self, name, canvas, guiEvent=None):
         self.guiEvent = guiEvent
 
 
-@cbook.deprecated("2.1")
-class IdleEvent(Event):
-    """
-    An event triggered by the GUI backend when it is idle -- useful
-    for passive animation
-    """
-
-
 class DrawEvent(Event):
     """
     An event triggered by a draw operation on the canvas
@@ -2014,13 +1987,6 @@ def enter_notify_event(self, guiEvent=None, xy=None):
         event = Event('figure_enter_event', self, guiEvent)
         self.callbacks.process('figure_enter_event', event)
 
-    @cbook.deprecated("2.1")
-    def idle_event(self, guiEvent=None):
-        """Called when GUI is idle."""
-        s = 'idle_event'
-        event = IdleEvent(s, self, guiEvent=guiEvent)
-        self.callbacks.process(s, event)
-
     def grab_mouse(self, ax):
         """
         Set the child axes which are currently grabbing the mouse events.
@@ -2814,10 +2780,6 @@ def back(self, *args):
         self.set_history_buttons()
         self._update_view()
 
-    @cbook.deprecated("2.1", alternative="canvas.draw_idle")
-    def dynamic_update(self):
-        self.canvas.draw_idle()
-
     def draw_rubberband(self, event, x0, y0, x1, y1):
         """Draw a rectangle rubberband to indicate zoom limits.
 
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_qt5agg.py b/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_qt5agg.py
index 4783143d83d6..4c412459712a 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_qt5agg.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_qt5agg.py
@@ -20,11 +20,6 @@ def __init__(self, figure):
         super().__init__(figure=figure)
         self._bbox_queue = []
 
-    @property
-    @cbook.deprecated("2.1")
-    def blitbox(self):
-        return self._bbox_queue
-
     def paintEvent(self, e):
         """Copy the image from the Agg canvas to the qt.drawable.
 
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_wx.py b/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_wx.py
index 81b0729b65d8..caaeb0ee6a97 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_wx.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/backends/backend_wx.py
@@ -501,27 +501,6 @@ def set_joinstyle(self, js):
         self.gfx_ctx.SetPen(self._pen)
         self.unselect()
 
-    @cbook.deprecated("2.1")
-    def set_linestyle(self, ls):
-        """
-        Set the line style to be one of
-        """
-        DEBUG_MSG("set_linestyle()", 1, self)
-        self.select()
-        GraphicsContextBase.set_linestyle(self, ls)
-        try:
-            self._style = wxc.dashd_wx[ls]
-        except KeyError:
-            self._style = wx.LONG_DASH  # Style not used elsewhere...
-
-        # On MS Windows platform, only line width of 1 allowed for dash lines
-        if wx.Platform == '__WXMSW__':
-            self.set_linewidth(1)
-
-        self._pen.SetStyle(self._style)
-        self.gfx_ctx.SetPen(self._pen)
-        self.unselect()
-
     def get_wxcolour(self, color):
         """return a wx.Colour from RGB format"""
         DEBUG_MSG("get_wx_color()", 1, self)
@@ -1591,14 +1570,6 @@ def set_cursor(self, cursor):
         self.canvas.SetCursor(cursor)
         self.canvas.Update()
 
-    @cbook.deprecated("2.1", alternative="canvas.draw_idle")
-    def dynamic_update(self):
-        d = self._idle
-        self._idle = False
-        if d:
-            self.canvas.draw()
-            self._idle = True
-
     def press(self, event):
         if self._active == 'ZOOM':
             if not self.retinaFix:
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/cbook/__init__.py b/lib/matplotlib/cbook/__init__.py
index 1e43f4b6f3e2..5ba63c2f0158 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/cbook/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/cbook/__init__.py
@@ -64,87 +64,6 @@ def unicode_safe(s):
     return s
 
 
-@deprecated('2.1')
-class converter(object):
-    """
-    Base class for handling string -> python type with support for
-    missing values
-    """
-    def __init__(self, missing='Null', missingval=None):
-        self.missing = missing
-        self.missingval = missingval
-
-    def __call__(self, s):
-        if s == self.missing:
-            return self.missingval
-        return s
-
-    def is_missing(self, s):
-        return not s.strip() or s == self.missing
-
-
-@deprecated('2.1')
-class tostr(converter):
-    """convert to string or None"""
-    def __init__(self, missing='Null', missingval=''):
-        converter.__init__(self, missing=missing, missingval=missingval)
-
-
-@deprecated('2.1')
-class todatetime(converter):
-    """convert to a datetime or None"""
-    def __init__(self, fmt='%Y-%m-%d', missing='Null', missingval=None):
-        'use a :func:`time.strptime` format string for conversion'
-        converter.__init__(self, missing, missingval)
-        self.fmt = fmt
-
-    def __call__(self, s):
-        if self.is_missing(s):
-            return self.missingval
-        tup = time.strptime(s, self.fmt)
-        return datetime.datetime(*tup[:6])
-
-
-@deprecated('2.1')
-class todate(converter):
-    """convert to a date or None"""
-    def __init__(self, fmt='%Y-%m-%d', missing='Null', missingval=None):
-        """use a :func:`time.strptime` format string for conversion"""
-        converter.__init__(self, missing, missingval)
-        self.fmt = fmt
-
-    def __call__(self, s):
-        if self.is_missing(s):
-            return self.missingval
-        tup = time.strptime(s, self.fmt)
-        return datetime.date(*tup[:3])
-
-
-@deprecated('2.1')
-class tofloat(converter):
-    """convert to a float or None"""
-    def __init__(self, missing='Null', missingval=None):
-        converter.__init__(self, missing)
-        self.missingval = missingval
-
-    def __call__(self, s):
-        if self.is_missing(s):
-            return self.missingval
-        return float(s)
-
-
-@deprecated('2.1')
-class toint(converter):
-    """convert to an int or None"""
-    def __init__(self, missing='Null', missingval=None):
-        converter.__init__(self, missing)
-
-    def __call__(self, s):
-        if self.is_missing(s):
-            return self.missingval
-        return int(s)
-
-
 class _BoundMethodProxy(object):
     """
     Our own proxy object which enables weak references to bound and unbound
@@ -502,12 +421,6 @@ class is even handier, and prettier to use.  Whenever you want to
     pass
 
 
-@deprecated('2.1')
-def unique(x):
-    """Return a list of unique elements of *x*"""
-    return list(set(x))
-
-
 def iterable(obj):
     """return true if *obj* is iterable"""
     try:
@@ -517,30 +430,6 @@ def iterable(obj):
     return True
 
 
-@deprecated('2.1')
-def is_string_like(obj):
-    """Return True if *obj* looks like a string"""
-    # (np.str_ == np.unicode_ on Py3).
-    return isinstance(obj, (six.string_types, np.str_, np.unicode_))
-
-
-@deprecated('2.1')
-def is_sequence_of_strings(obj):
-    """Returns true if *obj* is iterable and contains strings"""
-    if not iterable(obj):
-        return False
-    if is_string_like(obj) and not isinstance(obj, np.ndarray):
-        try:
-            obj = obj.values
-        except AttributeError:
-            # not pandas
-            return False
-    for o in obj:
-        if not is_string_like(o):
-            return False
-    return True
-
-
 def is_hashable(obj):
     """Returns true if *obj* can be hashed"""
     try:
@@ -568,12 +457,6 @@ def file_requires_unicode(x):
         return False
 
 
-@deprecated('2.1')
-def is_scalar(obj):
-    """return true if *obj* is not string like and is not iterable"""
-    return not isinstance(obj, six.string_types) and not iterable(obj)
-
-
 @deprecated('3.0', 'isinstance(..., numbers.Number)')
 def is_numlike(obj):
     """return true if *obj* looks like a number"""
@@ -700,149 +583,6 @@ def flatten(seq, scalarp=is_scalar_or_string):
             yield from flatten(item, scalarp)
 
 
-@deprecated('2.1', "sorted(..., key=itemgetter(...))")
-class Sorter(object):
-    """
-    Sort by attribute or item
-
-    Example usage::
-
-      sort = Sorter()
-
-      list = [(1, 2), (4, 8), (0, 3)]
-      dict = [{'a': 3, 'b': 4}, {'a': 5, 'b': 2}, {'a': 0, 'b': 0},
-              {'a': 9, 'b': 9}]
-
-
-      sort(list)       # default sort
-      sort(list, 1)    # sort by index 1
-      sort(dict, 'a')  # sort a list of dicts by key 'a'
-
-    """
-
-    def _helper(self, data, aux, inplace):
-        aux.sort()
-        result = [data[i] for junk, i in aux]
-        if inplace:
-            data[:] = result
-        return result
-
-    def byItem(self, data, itemindex=None, inplace=1):
-        if itemindex is None:
-            if inplace:
-                data.sort()
-                result = data
-            else:
-                result = sorted(data)
-            return result
-        else:
-            aux = [(data[i][itemindex], i) for i in range(len(data))]
-            return self._helper(data, aux, inplace)
-
-    def byAttribute(self, data, attributename, inplace=1):
-        aux = [(getattr(data[i], attributename), i) for i in range(len(data))]
-        return self._helper(data, aux, inplace)
-
-    # a couple of handy synonyms
-    sort = byItem
-    __call__ = byItem
-
-
-@deprecated('2.1')
-class Xlator(dict):
-    """
-    All-in-one multiple-string-substitution class
-
-    Example usage::
-
-      text = "Larry Wall is the creator of Perl"
-      adict = {
-      "Larry Wall" : "Guido van Rossum",
-      "creator" : "Benevolent Dictator for Life",
-      "Perl" : "Python",
-      }
-
-      print(multiple_replace(adict, text))
-
-      xlat = Xlator(adict)
-      print(xlat.xlat(text))
-    """
-
-    def _make_regex(self):
-        """ Build re object based on the keys of the current dictionary """
-        return re.compile("|".join(map(re.escape, self)))
-
-    def __call__(self, match):
-        """ Handler invoked for each regex *match* """
-        return self[match.group(0)]
-
-    def xlat(self, text):
-        """ Translate *text*, returns the modified text. """
-        return self._make_regex().sub(self, text)
-
-
-@deprecated('2.1')
-def soundex(name, len=4):
-    """ soundex module conforming to Odell-Russell algorithm """
-
-    # digits holds the soundex values for the alphabet
-    soundex_digits = '01230120022455012623010202'
-    sndx = ''
-    fc = ''
-
-    # Translate letters in name to soundex digits
-    for c in name.upper():
-        if c.isalpha():
-            if not fc:
-                fc = c   # Remember first letter
-            d = soundex_digits[ord(c) - ord('A')]
-            # Duplicate consecutive soundex digits are skipped
-            if not sndx or (d != sndx[-1]):
-                sndx += d
-
-    # Replace first digit with first letter
-    sndx = fc + sndx[1:]
-
-    # Remove all 0s from the soundex code
-    sndx = sndx.replace('0', '')
-
-    # Return soundex code truncated or 0-padded to len characters
-    return (sndx + (len * '0'))[:len]
-
-
-@deprecated('2.1')
-class Null(object):
-    """ Null objects always and reliably "do nothing." """
-
-    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
-        pass
-
-    def __call__(self, *args, **kwargs):
-        return self
-
-    def __str__(self):
-        return "Null()"
-
-    def __repr__(self):
-        return "Null()"
-
-    if six.PY3:
-        def __bool__(self):
-            return 0
-    else:
-        def __nonzero__(self):
-            return 0
-
-    def __getattr__(self, name):
-        return self
-
-    def __setattr__(self, name, value):
-        return self
-
-    def __delattr__(self, name):
-        return self
-
-
 @deprecated("3.0")
 def mkdirs(newdir, mode=0o777):
     """
@@ -890,91 +630,6 @@ def get_realpath_and_stat(path):
     return realpath, stat_key
 
 
-@deprecated('2.1')
-def dict_delall(d, keys):
-    """delete all of the *keys* from the :class:`dict` *d*"""
-    for key in keys:
-        try:
-            del d[key]
-        except KeyError:
-            pass
-
-
-@deprecated('2.1')
-class RingBuffer(object):
-    """ class that implements a not-yet-full buffer """
-    def __init__(self, size_max):
-        self.max = size_max
-        self.data = []
-
-    class __Full:
-        """ class that implements a full buffer """
-        def append(self, x):
-            """ Append an element overwriting the oldest one. """
-            self.data[self.cur] = x
-            self.cur = (self.cur + 1) % self.max
-
-        def get(self):
-            """ return list of elements in correct order """
-            return self.data[self.cur:] + self.data[:self.cur]
-
-    def append(self, x):
-        """append an element at the end of the buffer"""
-        self.data.append(x)
-        if len(self.data) == self.max:
-            self.cur = 0
-            # Permanently change self's class from non-full to full
-            self.__class__ = __Full
-
-    def get(self):
-        """ Return a list of elements from the oldest to the newest. """
-        return self.data
-
-    def __get_item__(self, i):
-        return self.data[i % len(self.data)]
-
-
-@deprecated('2.1')
-def get_split_ind(seq, N):
-    """
-    *seq* is a list of words.  Return the index into seq such that::
-
-        len(' '.join(seq[:ind])<=N
-
-    .
-    """
-
-    s_len = 0
-    # todo: use Alex's xrange pattern from the cbook for efficiency
-    for (word, ind) in zip(seq, xrange(len(seq))):
-        s_len += len(word) + 1  # +1 to account for the len(' ')
-        if s_len >= N:
-            return ind
-    return len(seq)
-
-
-@deprecated('2.1', alternative='textwrap.TextWrapper')
-def wrap(prefix, text, cols):
-    """wrap *text* with *prefix* at length *cols*"""
-    pad = ' ' * len(prefix.expandtabs())
-    available = cols - len(pad)
-
-    seq = text.split(' ')
-    Nseq = len(seq)
-    ind = 0
-    lines = []
-    while ind < Nseq:
-        lastInd = ind
-        ind += get_split_ind(seq[ind:], available)
-        lines.append(seq[lastInd:ind])
-
-    # add the prefix to the first line, pad with spaces otherwise
-    ret = prefix + ' '.join(lines[0]) + '\n'
-    for line in lines[1:]:
-        ret += pad + ' '.join(line) + '\n'
-    return ret
-
-
 # A regular expression used to determine the amount of space to
 # remove.  It looks for the first sequence of spaces immediately
 # following the first newline, or at the beginning of the string.
@@ -1051,101 +706,6 @@ def listFiles(root, patterns='*', recurse=1, return_folders=0):
     return results
 
 
-@deprecated('2.1')
-def get_recursive_filelist(args):
-    """
-    Recurse all the files and dirs in *args* ignoring symbolic links
-    and return the files as a list of strings
-    """
-    files = []
-
-    for arg in args:
-        if os.path.isfile(arg):
-            files.append(arg)
-            continue
-        if os.path.isdir(arg):
-            newfiles = listFiles(arg, recurse=1, return_folders=1)
-            files.extend(newfiles)
-
-    return [f for f in files if not os.path.islink(f)]
-
-
-@deprecated('2.1')
-def pieces(seq, num=2):
-    """Break up the *seq* into *num* tuples"""
-    start = 0
-    while 1:
-        item = seq[start:start + num]
-        if not len(item):
-            break
-        yield item
-        start += num
-
-
-@deprecated('2.1')
-def exception_to_str(s=None):
-    if six.PY3:
-        sh = io.StringIO()
-    else:
-        sh = io.BytesIO()
-    if s is not None:
-        print(s, file=sh)
-    traceback.print_exc(file=sh)
-    return sh.getvalue()
-
-
-@deprecated('2.1')
-def allequal(seq):
-    """
-    Return *True* if all elements of *seq* compare equal.  If *seq* is
-    0 or 1 length, return *True*
-    """
-    if len(seq) < 2:
-        return True
-    val = seq[0]
-    for i in xrange(1, len(seq)):
-        thisval = seq[i]
-        if thisval != val:
-            return False
-    return True
-
-
-@deprecated('2.1')
-def alltrue(seq):
-    """
-    Return *True* if all elements of *seq* evaluate to *True*.  If
-    *seq* is empty, return *False*.
-    """
-    if not len(seq):
-        return False
-    for val in seq:
-        if not val:
-            return False
-    return True
-
-
-@deprecated('2.1')
-def onetrue(seq):
-    """
-    Return *True* if one element of *seq* is *True*.  It *seq* is
-    empty, return *False*.
-    """
-    if not len(seq):
-        return False
-    for val in seq:
-        if val:
-            return True
-    return False
-
-
-@deprecated('2.1')
-def allpairs(x):
-    """
-    return all possible pairs in sequence *x*
-    """
-    return [(s, f) for i, f in enumerate(x) for s in x[i + 1:]]
-
-
 class maxdict(dict):
     """
     A dictionary with a maximum size; this doesn't override all the
@@ -1262,37 +822,6 @@ def remove(self, o):
                 self.push(thiso)
 
 
-@deprecated('2.1')
-def finddir(o, match, case=False):
-    """
-    return all attributes of *o* which match string in match.  if case
-    is True require an exact case match.
-    """
-    if case:
-        names = [(name, name) for name in dir(o)
-                 if isinstance(name, six.string_types)]
-    else:
-        names = [(name.lower(), name) for name in dir(o)
-                 if isinstance(name, six.string_types)]
-        match = match.lower()
-    return [orig for name, orig in names if name.find(match) >= 0]
-
-
-@deprecated('2.1')
-def reverse_dict(d):
-    """reverse the dictionary -- may lose data if values are not unique!"""
-    return {v: k for k, v in six.iteritems(d)}
-
-
-@deprecated('2.1')
-def restrict_dict(d, keys):
-    """
-    Return a dictionary that contains those keys that appear in both
-    d and keys, with values from d.
-    """
-    return {k: v for k, v in six.iteritems(d) if k in keys}
-
-
 def report_memory(i=0):  # argument may go away
     """return the memory consumed by process"""
     from subprocess import Popen, PIPE
@@ -1351,16 +880,6 @@ def safezip(*args):
     return list(zip(*args))
 
 
-@deprecated('2.1')
-def issubclass_safe(x, klass):
-    """return issubclass(x, klass) and return False on a TypeError"""
-
-    try:
-        return issubclass(x, klass)
-    except TypeError:
-        return False
-
-
 def safe_masked_invalid(x, copy=False):
     x = np.array(x, subok=True, copy=copy)
     if not x.dtype.isnative:
@@ -1595,21 +1114,6 @@ def simple_linear_interpolation(a, steps):
             .reshape((len(x),) + a.shape[1:]))
 
 
-@deprecated('2.1', alternative='shutil.rmtree')
-def recursive_remove(path):
-    if os.path.isdir(path):
-        for fname in (glob.glob(os.path.join(path, '*')) +
-                      glob.glob(os.path.join(path, '.*'))):
-            if os.path.isdir(fname):
-                recursive_remove(fname)
-                os.removedirs(fname)
-            else:
-                os.remove(fname)
-        # os.removedirs(path)
-    else:
-        os.remove(path)
-
-
 def delete_masked_points(*args):
     """
     Find all masked and/or non-finite points in a set of arguments,
@@ -1895,58 +1399,6 @@ def _compute_conf_interval(data, med, iqr, bootstrap):
     return bxpstats
 
 
-# FIXME I don't think this is used anywhere
-@deprecated('2.1')
-def unmasked_index_ranges(mask, compressed=True):
-    """
-    Find index ranges where *mask* is *False*.
-
-    *mask* will be flattened if it is not already 1-D.
-
-    Returns Nx2 :class:`numpy.ndarray` with each row the start and stop
-    indices for slices of the compressed :class:`numpy.ndarray`
-    corresponding to each of *N* uninterrupted runs of unmasked
-    values.  If optional argument *compressed* is *False*, it returns
-    the start and stop indices into the original :class:`numpy.ndarray`,
-    not the compressed :class:`numpy.ndarray`.  Returns *None* if there
-    are no unmasked values.
-
-    Example::
-
-      y = ma.array(np.arange(5), mask = [0,0,1,0,0])
-      ii = unmasked_index_ranges(ma.getmaskarray(y))
-      # returns array [[0,2,] [2,4,]]
-
-      y.compressed()[ii[1,0]:ii[1,1]]
-      # returns array [3,4,]
-
-      ii = unmasked_index_ranges(ma.getmaskarray(y), compressed=False)
-      # returns array [[0, 2], [3, 5]]
-
-      y.filled()[ii[1,0]:ii[1,1]]
-      # returns array [3,4,]
-
-    Prior to the transforms refactoring, this was used to support
-    masked arrays in Line2D.
-    """
-    mask = mask.reshape(mask.size)
-    m = np.concatenate(((1,), mask, (1,)))
-    indices = np.arange(len(mask) + 1)
-    mdif = m[1:] - m[:-1]
-    i0 = np.compress(mdif == -1, indices)
-    i1 = np.compress(mdif == 1, indices)
-    assert len(i0) == len(i1)
-    if len(i1) == 0:
-        return None  # Maybe this should be np.zeros((0,2), dtype=int)
-    if not compressed:
-        return np.concatenate((i0[:, np.newaxis], i1[:, np.newaxis]), axis=1)
-    seglengths = i1 - i0
-    breakpoints = np.cumsum(seglengths)
-    ic0 = np.concatenate(((0,), breakpoints[:-1]))
-    ic1 = breakpoints
-    return np.concatenate((ic0[:, np.newaxis], ic1[:, np.newaxis]), axis=1)
-
-
 # The ls_mapper maps short codes for line style to their full name used by
 # backends; the reverse mapper is for mapping full names to short ones.
 ls_mapper = {'-': 'solid', '--': 'dashed', '-.': 'dashdot', ':': 'dotted'}
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/figure.py b/lib/matplotlib/figure.py
index ec3912fac2f5..dc29c4791046 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/figure.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/figure.py
@@ -400,11 +400,6 @@ def __init__(self,
         self._align_xlabel_grp = cbook.Grouper()
         self._align_ylabel_grp = cbook.Grouper()
 
-    @property
-    @cbook.deprecated("2.1", alternative="`.Figure.patch`")
-    def figurePatch(self):
-        return self.patch
-
     # TODO: I'd like to dynamically add the _repr_html_ method
     # to the figure in the right context, but then IPython doesn't
     # use it, for some reason.
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/font_manager.py b/lib/matplotlib/font_manager.py
index 14381abfb9df..7b7881c0b93d 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/font_manager.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/font_manager.py
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@
 platforms, so if a font is installed, it is much more likely to be
 found.
 """
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
 
 import six
 
@@ -340,24 +339,6 @@ def findSystemFonts(fontpaths=None, fontext='ttf'):
     return [fname for fname in fontfiles if os.path.exists(fname)]
 
 
-@cbook.deprecated("2.1")
-def weight_as_number(weight):
-    """
-    Return the weight property as a numeric value.  String values
-    are converted to their corresponding numeric value.
-    """
-    if isinstance(weight, six.string_types):
-        try:
-            weight = weight_dict[weight.lower()]
-        except KeyError:
-            weight = 400
-    elif weight in range(100, 1000, 100):
-        pass
-    else:
-        raise ValueError('weight not a valid integer')
-    return weight
-
-
 class FontEntry(object):
     """
     A class for storing Font properties.  It is used when populating
@@ -922,22 +903,6 @@ def copy(self):
         return FontProperties(_init=self)
 
 
-@cbook.deprecated("2.1")
-def ttfdict_to_fnames(d):
-    """
-    flatten a ttfdict to all the filenames it contains
-    """
-    fnames = []
-    for named in six.itervalues(d):
-        for styled in six.itervalues(named):
-            for variantd in six.itervalues(styled):
-                for weightd in six.itervalues(variantd):
-                    for stretchd in six.itervalues(weightd):
-                        for fname in six.itervalues(stretchd):
-                            fnames.append(fname)
-    return fnames
-
-
 class JSONEncoder(json.JSONEncoder):
     def default(self, o):
         if isinstance(o, FontManager):
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/image.py b/lib/matplotlib/image.py
index 45436619f227..b7032a03e10f 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/image.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/image.py
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 operations.
 
 """
-from __future__ import (absolute_import, division, print_function,
-                        unicode_literals)
 
 import six
 from six.moves.urllib.parse import urlparse
@@ -183,21 +181,6 @@ def _rgb_to_rgba(A):
 class _ImageBase(martist.Artist, cm.ScalarMappable):
     zorder = 0
 
-    @property
-    @cbook.deprecated("2.1")
-    def _interpd(self):
-        return _interpd_
-
-    @property
-    @cbook.deprecated("2.1")
-    def _interpdr(self):
-        return {v: k for k, v in six.iteritems(_interpd_)}
-
-    @property
-    @cbook.deprecated("2.1", alternative="mpl.image.interpolation_names")
-    def iterpnames(self):
-        return interpolations_names
-
     def __str__(self):
         return "AxesImage(%g,%g;%gx%g)" % tuple(self.axes.bbox.bounds)
 
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/projections/polar.py b/lib/matplotlib/projections/polar.py
index 1493d7b3fc02..e32a2ace9588 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/projections/polar.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/projections/polar.py
@@ -1226,8 +1226,7 @@ def set_rticks(self, *args, **kwargs):
         return Axes.set_yticks(self, *args, **kwargs)
 
     @docstring.dedent_interpd
-    def set_thetagrids(self, angles, labels=None, frac=None, fmt=None,
-                       **kwargs):
+    def set_thetagrids(self, angles, labels=None, fmt=None, **kwargs):
         """
         Set the angles at which to place the theta grids (these
         gridlines are equal along the theta dimension).  *angles* is in
@@ -1238,10 +1237,6 @@ def set_thetagrids(self, angles, labels=None, frac=None, fmt=None,
 
         If *labels* is None, the labels will be ``fmt %% angle``
 
-        *frac* is the fraction of the polar axes radius at which to
-        place the label (1 is the edge). e.g., 1.05 is outside the axes
-        and 0.95 is inside the axes.
-
         Return value is a list of tuples (*line*, *label*), where
         *line* is :class:`~matplotlib.lines.Line2D` instances and the
         *label* is :class:`~matplotlib.text.Text` instances.
@@ -1252,10 +1247,6 @@ def set_thetagrids(self, angles, labels=None, frac=None, fmt=None,
 
         ACCEPTS: sequence of floats
         """
-        if frac is not None:
-            cbook.warn_deprecated('2.1', name='frac', obj_type='parameter',
-                                  alternative='tick padding via '
-                                              'Axes.tick_params')
 
         # Make sure we take into account unitized data
         angles = self.convert_yunits(angles)
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/pylab.py b/lib/matplotlib/pylab.py
index abfa09c674f4..5c90445bfaec 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/pylab.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/pylab.py
@@ -213,8 +213,7 @@
 
 """
 
-from matplotlib.cbook import (
-    flatten, exception_to_str, silent_list, iterable, dedent)
+from matplotlib.cbook import flatten, silent_list, iterable, dedent
 
 import matplotlib as mpl
 
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/pyplot.py b/lib/matplotlib/pyplot.py
index c89d41f9589c..791c9bf90ad9 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/pyplot.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/pyplot.py
@@ -1865,56 +1865,6 @@ def get_plot_commands():
            and inspect.getmodule(obj) is this_module)
 
 
-@deprecated('2.1')
-def colors():
-    """
-    This is a do-nothing function to provide you with help on how
-    matplotlib handles colors.
-
-    Commands which take color arguments can use several formats to
-    specify the colors.  For the basic built-in colors, you can use a
-    single letter
-
-      =====   =======
-      Alias   Color
-      =====   =======
-      'b'     blue
-      'g'     green
-      'r'     red
-      'c'     cyan
-      'm'     magenta
-      'y'     yellow
-      'k'     black
-      'w'     white
-      =====   =======
-
-    For a greater range of colors, you have two options.  You can
-    specify the color using an html hex string, as in::
-
-      color = '#eeefff'
-
-    or you can pass an R,G,B tuple, where each of R,G,B are in the
-    range [0,1].
-
-    You can also use any legal html name for a color, for example::
-
-      color = 'red'
-      color = 'burlywood'
-      color = 'chartreuse'
-
-    The example below creates a subplot with a dark
-    slate gray background::
-
-       subplot(111, facecolor=(0.1843, 0.3098, 0.3098))
-
-    Here is an example that creates a pale turquoise title::
-
-      title('Is this the best color?', color='#afeeee')
-
-    """
-    pass
-
-
 def colormaps():
     """
     Matplotlib provides a number of colormaps, and others can be added using
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/rcsetup.py b/lib/matplotlib/rcsetup.py
index a4434f1ba5d4..b0a9b16c2e6b 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/rcsetup.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/rcsetup.py
@@ -539,26 +539,6 @@ def validate_ps_distiller(s):
                                                  ignorecase=True)
 
 
-@deprecated('2.1',
-            addendum=(" See 'validate_negative_linestyle_legacy' " +
-                      "deprecation warning for more information."))
-def validate_negative_linestyle(s):
-    return _validate_negative_linestyle(s)
-
-
-@deprecated('2.1',
-            addendum=(" The 'contour.negative_linestyle' rcParam now " +
-                      "follows the same validation as the other rcParams " +
-                      "that are related to line style."))
-def validate_negative_linestyle_legacy(s):
-    try:
-        res = validate_negative_linestyle(s)
-        return res
-    except ValueError:
-        dashes = validate_nseq_float(2)(s)
-        return (0, dashes)  # (offset, (solid, blank))
-
-
 validate_legend_loc = ValidateInStrings(
     'legend_loc',
     ['best',
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/sphinxext/tests/test_tinypages.py b/lib/matplotlib/sphinxext/tests/test_tinypages.py
index 748a3f381900..9ec300894760 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/sphinxext/tests/test_tinypages.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/sphinxext/tests/test_tinypages.py
@@ -15,15 +15,6 @@
     reason="'{} -msphinx' does not return 0".format(sys.executable))
 
 
-@cbook.deprecated("2.1", alternative="filecmp.cmp")
-def file_same(file1, file2):
-    with open(file1, 'rb') as fobj:
-        contents1 = fobj.read()
-    with open(file2, 'rb') as fobj:
-        contents2 = fobj.read()
-    return contents1 == contents2
-
-
 def test_tinypages(tmpdir):
     html_dir = pjoin(str(tmpdir), 'html')
     doctree_dir = pjoin(str(tmpdir), 'doctrees')
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/testing/compare.py b/lib/matplotlib/testing/compare.py
index e19ecb47a577..7c24b6141698 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/testing/compare.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/testing/compare.py
@@ -316,39 +316,6 @@ def convert(filename, cache):
 
     return newname
 
-#: Maps file extensions to a function which takes a filename as its
-#: only argument to return a list suitable for execution with Popen.
-#: The purpose of this is so that the result file (with the given
-#: extension) can be verified with tools such as xmllint for svg.
-verifiers = {}
-
-# Turning this off, because it seems to cause multiprocessing issues
-if False and matplotlib.checkdep_xmllint():
-    verifiers['svg'] = lambda filename: [
-        'xmllint', '--valid', '--nowarning', '--noout', filename]
-
-
-@cbook.deprecated("2.1")
-def verify(filename):
-    """Verify the file through some sort of verification tool."""
-    if not os.path.exists(filename):
-        raise IOError("'%s' does not exist" % filename)
-    base, extension = filename.rsplit('.', 1)
-    verifier = verifiers.get(extension, None)
-    if verifier is not None:
-        cmd = verifier(filename)
-        pipe = subprocess.Popen(cmd, universal_newlines=True,
-                                stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
-        stdout, stderr = pipe.communicate()
-        errcode = pipe.wait()
-        if errcode != 0:
-            msg = "File verification command failed:\n%s\n" % ' '.join(cmd)
-            if stdout:
-                msg += "Standard output:\n%s\n" % stdout
-            if stderr:
-                msg += "Standard error:\n%s\n" % stderr
-            raise IOError(msg)
-
 
 def crop_to_same(actual_path, actual_image, expected_path, expected_image):
     # clip the images to the same size -- this is useful only when
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/testing/decorators.py b/lib/matplotlib/testing/decorators.py
index 403d273ccfd7..407592af834d 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/testing/decorators.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/testing/decorators.py
@@ -55,12 +55,6 @@ def _knownfailureif(fail_condition, msg=None, known_exception_class=None):
         return knownfailureif(fail_condition, msg, known_exception_class)
 
 
-@cbook.deprecated('2.1',
-                  alternative='pytest.xfail or import the plugin')
-def knownfailureif(fail_condition, msg=None, known_exception_class=None):
-    _knownfailureif(fail_condition, msg, known_exception_class)
-
-
 def _do_cleanup(original_units_registry, original_settings):
     plt.close('all')
 
@@ -330,12 +324,6 @@ def setup(self):
     def teardown(self):
         self.teardown_class()
 
-    @staticmethod
-    @cbook.deprecated('2.1',
-                      alternative='remove_ticks_and_titles')
-    def remove_text(figure):
-        remove_ticks_and_titles(figure)
-
     def nose_runner(self):
         func = self.compare
         func = _checked_on_freetype_version(self.freetype_version)(func)
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/tests/__init__.py b/lib/matplotlib/tests/__init__.py
index 271e67ad6422..61261b57b6b0 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/tests/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/tests/__init__.py
@@ -17,22 +17,3 @@
         'This is most likely because the test data is not installed. '
         'You may need to install matplotlib from source to get the '
         'test data.')
-
-
-@cbook.deprecated("2.1")
-def assert_str_equal(reference_str, test_str,
-                     format_str=('String {str1} and {str2} do not '
-                                 'match:\n{differences}')):
-    """
-    Assert the two strings are equal. If not, fail and print their
-    diffs using difflib.
-
-    """
-    if reference_str != test_str:
-        diff = difflib.unified_diff(reference_str.splitlines(1),
-                                    test_str.splitlines(1),
-                                    'Reference', 'Test result',
-                                    '', '', 0)
-        raise ValueError(format_str.format(str1=reference_str,
-                                           str2=test_str,
-                                           differences=''.join(diff)))
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_axes.py b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_axes.py
index 303d2f183009..abd2b6675b48 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_axes.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_axes.py
@@ -5573,15 +5573,6 @@ def test_zero_linewidth():
     plt.plot([0, 1], [0, 1], ls='--', lw=0)
 
 
-def test_patch_deprecations():
-    fig, ax = plt.subplots()
-    with warnings.catch_warnings(record=True) as w:
-        assert ax.patch == ax.axesPatch
-        assert fig.patch == fig.figurePatch
-
-    assert len(w) == 2
-
-
 def test_polar_gridlines():
     fig = plt.figure()
     ax = fig.add_subplot(111, polar=True)
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_cbook.py b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_cbook.py
index b7750b2bc9a9..aa5e3f9f620c 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_cbook.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_cbook.py
@@ -26,24 +26,6 @@ def test_is_hashable():
     assert not cbook.is_hashable(lst)
 
 
-def test_restrict_dict():
-    d = {'foo': 'bar', 1: 2}
-    with pytest.warns(cbook.deprecation.MatplotlibDeprecationWarning) as rec:
-        d1 = cbook.restrict_dict(d, ['foo', 1])
-        assert d1 == d
-        d2 = cbook.restrict_dict(d, ['bar', 2])
-        assert d2 == {}
-        d3 = cbook.restrict_dict(d, {'foo': 1})
-        assert d3 == {'foo': 'bar'}
-        d4 = cbook.restrict_dict(d, {})
-        assert d4 == {}
-        d5 = cbook.restrict_dict(d, {'foo', 2})
-        assert d5 == {'foo': 'bar'}
-    assert len(rec) == 5
-    # check that d was not modified
-    assert d == {'foo': 'bar', 1: 2}
-
-
 class Test_delete_masked_points(object):
     def setup_method(self):
         self.mask1 = [False, False, True, True, False, False]
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_compare_images.py b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_compare_images.py
index 526eb0336149..83ca0d99413b 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_compare_images.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_compare_images.py
@@ -96,19 +96,6 @@ def nosetest_simple_figure():
     return fig
 
 
-def nosetest_manual_text_removal():
-    from matplotlib.testing.decorators import ImageComparisonTest
-
-    fig = nosetest_simple_figure()
-    with warnings.catch_warnings(record=True) as w:
-        warnings.simplefilter('always')
-        # Make sure this removes text like it should.
-        ImageComparisonTest.remove_text(fig)
-
-    assert len(w) == 1
-    assert 'remove_text function was deprecated in version 2.1.' in str(w[0])
-
-
 @pytest.mark.parametrize(
     'func, kwargs, errors, failures, dots',
     [
@@ -134,11 +121,6 @@ def nosetest_manual_text_removal():
          [],
          [],
          '...'),
-        (nosetest_manual_text_removal,
-         {'baseline_images': ['simple']},
-         [],
-         [],
-         '...'),
     ],
     ids=[
         'empty',
@@ -146,7 +128,6 @@ def nosetest_manual_text_removal():
         'incorrect shape',
         'failing figure',
         'passing figure',
-        'manual text removal',
     ])
 def test_nose_image_comparison(func, kwargs, errors, failures, dots,
                                monkeypatch):
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_image.py b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_image.py
index 26e3b4a7ea26..d332ca0f3ef3 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_image.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_image.py
@@ -910,14 +910,6 @@ def test_imshow_bool():
     ax.imshow(np.array([[True, False], [False, True]], dtype=bool))
 
 
-def test_imshow_deprecated_interd_warn():
-    im = plt.imshow([[1, 2], [3, np.nan]])
-    for k in ('_interpd', '_interpdr', 'iterpnames'):
-        with warnings.catch_warnings(record=True) as warns:
-            getattr(im, k)
-        assert len(warns) == 1
-
-
 def test_full_invalid():
     x = np.ones((10, 10))
     x[:] = np.nan
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/texmanager.py b/lib/matplotlib/texmanager.py
index 8f6273b367f8..1bd992939923 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/texmanager.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/texmanager.py
@@ -33,8 +33,6 @@
 
 """
 
-from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
-
 import six
 
 import copy