diff --git a/base/docs/helpdb/Base.jl b/base/docs/helpdb/Base.jl
index b678eef80e9f6..96b5e4886d85c 100644
--- a/base/docs/helpdb/Base.jl
+++ b/base/docs/helpdb/Base.jl
@@ -8761,18 +8761,6 @@ Letter: Lowercase.
 """
 islower
 
-"""
-    read(stream::IO, nb=typemax(Int); all=true)
-
-Read at most `nb` bytes from `stream`, returning a `Vector{UInt8}` of the bytes read.
-
-If `all` is `true` (the default), this function will block repeatedly trying to read all
-requested bytes, until an error or end-of-file occurs. If `all` is `false`, at most one
-`read` call is performed, and the amount of data returned is device-dependent. Note that not
-all stream types support the `all` option.
-"""
-read
-
 """
     eig(A,[irange,][vl,][vu,][permute=true,][scale=true]) -> D, V
 
diff --git a/base/iostream.jl b/base/iostream.jl
index bd675c345b75c..2ad0b41d492fa 100644
--- a/base/iostream.jl
+++ b/base/iostream.jl
@@ -246,6 +246,16 @@ function read(s::IOStream)
     resize!(b, nr)
 end
 
+"""
+    read(s::IOStream, nb::Integer; all=true)
+
+Read at most `nb` bytes from `s`, returning a `Vector{UInt8}` of the bytes read.
+
+If `all` is `true` (the default), this function will block repeatedly trying to read all
+requested bytes, until an error or end-of-file occurs. If `all` is `false`, at most one
+`read` call is performed, and the amount of data returned is device-dependent. Note that not
+all stream types support the `all` option.
+"""
 function read(s::IOStream, nb::Integer; all::Bool=true)
     b = Array{UInt8}(nb)
     nr = readbytes!(s, b, nb, all=all)
diff --git a/doc/stdlib/io-network.rst b/doc/stdlib/io-network.rst
index cb1ecfdb361c8..97e8c7c0c286a 100644
--- a/doc/stdlib/io-network.rst
+++ b/doc/stdlib/io-network.rst
@@ -168,11 +168,11 @@ General I/O
 
    See ``read`` for a description of the ``all`` option.
 
-.. function:: read(stream::IO, nb=typemax(Int); all=true)
+.. function:: read(s::IOStream, nb::Integer; all=true)
 
    .. Docstring generated from Julia source
 
-   Read at most ``nb`` bytes from ``stream``\ , returning a ``Vector{UInt8}`` of the bytes read.
+   Read at most ``nb`` bytes from ``s``\ , returning a ``Vector{UInt8}`` of the bytes read.
 
    If ``all`` is ``true`` (the default), this function will block repeatedly trying to read all requested bytes, until an error or end-of-file occurs. If ``all`` is ``false``\ , at most one ``read`` call is performed, and the amount of data returned is device-dependent. Note that not all stream types support the ``all`` option.