diff --git a/base/docs/Docs.jl b/base/docs/Docs.jl
index 0819383d79d70..ead5b076ce45a 100644
--- a/base/docs/Docs.jl
+++ b/base/docs/Docs.jl
@@ -10,12 +10,16 @@ export doc
 
 const modules = Module[]
 
-meta() = current_module().META
+const META′ = gensym("META")
+
+@eval meta(mod) = mod.$META′
+
+meta() = meta(current_module())
 
 macro init()
-    META = esc(:META)
+    META = esc(META′)
     quote
-        if !isdefined(:META)
+        if !isdefined($(Expr(:quote, META′)))
             const $META = ObjectIdDict()
             doc!($META, @doc_str $("Documentation metadata for `$(current_module())`."))
             push!(modules, current_module())
@@ -30,7 +34,7 @@ end
 
 function doc(obj)
     for mod in modules
-        haskey(mod.META, obj) && return mod.META[obj]
+        haskey(meta(mod), obj) && return meta(mod)[obj]
     end
 end
 
@@ -97,8 +101,8 @@ end
 function doc(f::Function)
     docs = []
     for mod in modules
-        if haskey(mod.META, f)
-            fd = mod.META[f]
+        if haskey(meta(mod), f)
+            fd = meta(mod)[f]
             length(docs) == 0 && fd.main != nothing && push!(docs, fd.main)
             if isa(fd, FuncDoc)
                 for m in fd.order
@@ -114,8 +118,8 @@ end
 
 function doc(f::Function, m::Method)
     for mod in modules
-        haskey(mod.META, f) && isa(mod.META[f], FuncDoc) && haskey(mod.META[f].meta, m) &&
-            return mod.META[f].meta[m]
+        haskey(meta(mod), f) && isa(meta(mod)[f], FuncDoc) && haskey(meta(mod)[f].meta, m) &&
+            return meta(mod)[f].meta[m]
     end
 end
 
@@ -168,8 +172,8 @@ end
 function doc(f::DataType)
     docs = []
     for mod in modules
-        if haskey(mod.META, f)
-            fd = mod.META[f]
+        if haskey(meta(mod), f)
+            fd = meta(mod)[f]
             if isa(fd, TypeDoc)
                 length(docs) == 0 && fd.main != nothing && push!(docs, fd.main)
                 for m in fd.order
@@ -189,8 +193,8 @@ isfield(x) = isexpr(x, :.) &&
 
 function fielddoc(T, k)
   for mod in modules
-    if haskey(mod.META, T) && isa(mod.META[T], TypeDoc) && haskey(mod.META[T].fields, k)
-      return mod.META[T].fields[k]
+    if haskey(meta(mod), T) && isa(meta(mod)[T], TypeDoc) && haskey(meta(mod)[T].fields, k)
+      return meta(mod)[T].fields[k]
     end
   end
   Text(sprint(io -> (print(io, "$T has fields: ");
diff --git a/test/docs.jl b/test/docs.jl
index d0679067d7cd0..577c54c008cbd 100644
--- a/test/docs.jl
+++ b/test/docs.jl
@@ -142,10 +142,12 @@ const K = :K
 
 end
 
-@test DocsTest.META[DocsTest] == doc"DocsTest"
+import Base.Docs: meta
+
+@test meta(DocsTest)[DocsTest] == doc"DocsTest"
 
 let f = DocsTest.f
-    funcdoc = DocsTest.META[f]
+    funcdoc = meta(DocsTest)[f]
     order = [methods(f, sig)[1] for sig in [(Any,), (Any, Any)]]
     @test funcdoc.main == nothing
     @test funcdoc.order == order
@@ -154,40 +156,40 @@ let f = DocsTest.f
 end
 
 let g = DocsTest.g
-    funcdoc = DocsTest.META[g]
+    funcdoc = meta(DocsTest)[g]
     @test funcdoc.main == doc"g"
 end
 
 let AT = DocsTest.AT
-    @test DocsTest.META[AT] == doc"AT"
+    @test meta(DocsTest)[AT] == doc"AT"
 end
 
 let BT = DocsTest.BT
-    @test DocsTest.META[BT] == doc"BT"
+    @test meta(DocsTest)[BT] == doc"BT"
 end
 
 let T = DocsTest.T
-    typedoc = DocsTest.META[T]
+    typedoc = meta(DocsTest)[T]
     @test typedoc.main == doc"T"
     @test typedoc.fields[:x] == doc"T.x"
     @test typedoc.fields[:y] == doc"T.y"
 end
 
 let IT = DocsTest.IT
-    typedoc = DocsTest.META[IT]
+    typedoc = meta(DocsTest)[IT]
     @test typedoc.main == doc"IT"
     @test typedoc.fields[:x] == doc"IT.x"
     @test typedoc.fields[:y] == doc"IT.y"
 end
 
 let TA = DocsTest.TA
-    @test DocsTest.META[TA] == doc"TA"
+    @test meta(DocsTest)[TA] == doc"TA"
 end
 
 let mac = getfield(DocsTest, symbol("@mac"))
-    funcdoc = DocsTest.META[mac]
+    funcdoc = meta(DocsTest)[mac]
     @test funcdoc.main == doc"@mac"
 end
 
-@test DocsTest.META[:G] == doc"G"
-@test DocsTest.META[:K] == doc"K"
+@test meta(DocsTest)[:G] == doc"G"
+@test meta(DocsTest)[:K] == doc"K"