diff --git a/base/deprecated.jl b/base/deprecated.jl
index 532cfc5c34ffa5..a218ea172224f7 100644
--- a/base/deprecated.jl
+++ b/base/deprecated.jl
@@ -1888,6 +1888,7 @@ end
 
 # TODO: after 0.7, remove thin keyword argument and associated logic from...
 # (1) base/linalg/svd.jl
+# (2) base/linalg/qr.jl
 
 @deprecate find(x::Number)            find(!iszero, x)
 @deprecate findnext(A, v, i::Integer) findnext(equalto(v), A, i)
diff --git a/base/linalg/qr.jl b/base/linalg/qr.jl
index 708dfeb1929492..dd0e0156a6be9a 100644
--- a/base/linalg/qr.jl
+++ b/base/linalg/qr.jl
@@ -265,7 +265,7 @@ The following functions are available for the `QR` objects: [`inv`](@ref), [`siz
 and [`\\`](@ref). When `A` is rectangular, `\\` will return a least squares
 solution and if the solution is not unique, the one with smallest norm is returned.
 
-Multiplication with respect to either thin or full `Q` is allowed, i.e. both `F[:Q]*F[:R]`
+Multiplication with respect to either square or non-square `Q` is allowed, i.e. both `F[:Q]*F[:R]`
 and `F[:Q]*A` are supported. A `Q` matrix can be converted into a regular matrix with
 [`full`](@ref) which has a named argument `thin`.
 
@@ -305,24 +305,32 @@ end
 qrfact(x::Number) = qrfact(fill(x,1,1))
 
 """
-    qr(A, pivot=Val(false); thin::Bool=true) -> Q, R, [p]
+    qr(A, pivot=Val(false); square::Bool = false) -> Q, R, [p]
 
 Compute the (pivoted) QR factorization of `A` such that either `A = Q*R` or `A[:,p] = Q*R`.
 Also see [`qrfact`](@ref).
-The default is to compute a thin factorization. Note that `R` is not
-extended with zeros when the full `Q` is requested.
+The default is to compute a "thin" factorization. Note that `R` is not
+extended with zeros when a square orthogonal factor `Q` is requested.
 """
-qr(A::Union{Number, AbstractMatrix}, pivot::Union{Val{false}, Val{true}}=Val(false); thin::Bool=true) =
-    _qr(A, pivot, thin=thin)
-function _qr(A::Union{Number, AbstractMatrix}, ::Val{false}; thin::Bool=true)
+function qr(A::Union{Number,AbstractMatrix}, pivot::Union{Val{false},Val{true}} = Val(false);
+            square::Bool = false, thin::Union{Bool,Void} = nothing)
+    # DEPRECATION TODO: remove deprecated thin argument and associated logic after 0.7
+    if thin != nothing
+        Base.depwarn(string("the `thin` keyword argument in `qr(A, pivot; thin = $(thin))` has ",
+            "been deprecated in favor of `square`, i.e. `qr(A, pivot; square = $(!thin))`."), :qr)
+        square::Bool = !thin
+    end
+    return _qr(A, pivot, square = square)
+end
+function _qr(A::Union{Number,AbstractMatrix}, ::Val{false}; square::Bool = false)
     F = qrfact(A, Val(false))
     Q, R = getq(F), F[:R]::Matrix{eltype(F)}
-    return (thin ? Array(Q) : A_mul_B!(Q, eye(eltype(Q), size(Q.factors, 1)))), R
+    return (!square ? Array(Q) : A_mul_B!(Q, eye(eltype(Q), size(Q.factors, 1)))), R
 end
-function _qr(A::Union{Number, AbstractMatrix}, ::Val{true}; thin::Bool=true)
+function _qr(A::Union{Number, AbstractMatrix}, ::Val{true}; square::Bool = false)
     F = qrfact(A, Val(true))
     Q, R, p = getq(F), F[:R]::Matrix{eltype(F)}, F[:p]::Vector{BlasInt}
-    return (thin ? Array(Q) : A_mul_B!(Q, eye(eltype(Q), size(Q.factors, 1)))), R, p
+    return (!square ? Array(Q) : A_mul_B!(Q, eye(eltype(Q), size(Q.factors, 1)))), R, p
 end
 
 """
diff --git a/test/linalg/qr.jl b/test/linalg/qr.jl
index 94f0e95d06742c..c46d981c438b2c 100644
--- a/test/linalg/qr.jl
+++ b/test/linalg/qr.jl
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ bimg  = randn(n,2)/2
 
 # helper functions to unambiguously recover explicit forms of an implicit QR Q
 squareQ(Q::LinAlg.AbstractQ) = A_mul_B!(Q, eye(eltype(Q), size(Q.factors, 1)))
-truncatedQ(Q::LinAlg.AbstractQ) = convert(Array, Q)
+nonsquareQ(Q::LinAlg.AbstractQ) = convert(Array, Q)
 
 @testset for eltya in (Float32, Float64, Complex64, Complex128, BigFloat, Int)
     raw_a = eltya == Int ? rand(1:7, n, n) : convert(Matrix{eltya}, eltya <: Complex ? complex.(areal, aimg) : areal)
@@ -75,9 +75,9 @@ truncatedQ(Q::LinAlg.AbstractQ) = convert(Array, Q)
                 q,r   = qra[:Q], qra[:R]
                 @test_throws KeyError qra[:Z]
                 @test q'*squareQ(q) ≈ eye(a_1)
-                @test q'*truncatedQ(q) ≈ eye(a_1, n1)
+                @test q'*nonsquareQ(q) ≈ eye(a_1, n1)
                 @test q*r ≈ a[:, 1:n1]
-                @test q*b[1:n1] ≈ truncatedQ(q)*b[1:n1] atol=100ε
+                @test q*b[1:n1] ≈ nonsquareQ(q)*b[1:n1] atol=100ε
                 @test q*b ≈ squareQ(q)*b atol=100ε
                 @test_throws DimensionMismatch q*b[1:n1 + 1]
                 @test_throws DimensionMismatch b[1:n1 + 1]*q'
@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@ end
 
 @testset "Issue 7304" begin
     A = [-√.5 -√.5; -√.5 √.5]
-    Q = truncatedQ(qrfact(A)[:Q])
+    Q = nonsquareQ(qrfact(A)[:Q])
     @test vecnorm(A-Q) < eps()
 end