diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d4c7bae4d..3305f79b8 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ Currently, the `@compat` macro supports the following syntaxes:
 
 * `names(::DataType)` is now renamed to `fieldnames` [#10332](https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/pull/10332)
 
-* `parseint` and `parsefloat` are now `parse(T, ...)` [#10543](https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/pull/10543)
+* `parseint` and `parsefloat` are now `parse(T, ...)` [#10543](https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/pull/10543); along the same line `BigFloat(s::String)` is now `parse(BigFloat,s)` [#10955](https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/pull/10955).
 
 * `convert(::Ptr{T}, x)` is now `Base.unsafe_convert` [#9986](https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/pull/9986).
   Compat provides an unexported `Compat.unsafe_convert` method that is aliased to `Base.convert` on Julia 0.3 and
diff --git a/src/Compat.jl b/src/Compat.jl
index 77fb0fb11..43e681149 100644
--- a/src/Compat.jl
+++ b/src/Compat.jl
@@ -212,6 +212,10 @@ if VERSION < v"0.4.0-dev+3874"
     Base.parse{T<:Union(Float32,Float64)}(::Type{T}, s::AbstractString) = parsefloat(T, s)
 end
 
+if VERSION < v"0.4.0-dev+4539"
+    Base.parse(::Type{BigFloat}, s::AbstractString) = BigFloat(s)
+end
+
 if VERSION < v"0.4.0-dev+3710"
     const unsafe_convert = Base.convert
 else
diff --git a/test/runtests.jl b/test/runtests.jl
index ba9949a17..ac7bf73e6 100644
--- a/test/runtests.jl
+++ b/test/runtests.jl
@@ -191,6 +191,7 @@ end
 @test parse(Int16, "1101", 2) == convert(Int16, 13)
 @test parse(Float64, "222") == 222.0
 @test parse(Float32, "1.1") == convert(Float32, 1.1)
+@test parse(BigFloat, "1.125") == convert(BigFloat, 1.125)
 
 # Make sure exports from Libc and Libdl are defined
 for x in [:strftime,:systemsleep,:getpid,:FILE,:malloc,:MS_SYNC,:munmap,:flush_cstdio,:realloc,:strptime,:Libc,:errno,:msync,:TmStruct,:calloc,:MS_INVALIDATE,:MS_ASYNC,:time,:strerror,:gethostname,:free,:mmap]