diff --git a/lib/timers.js b/lib/timers.js
index 6fc552fac7d444..cc8d6432058a82 100644
--- a/lib/timers.js
+++ b/lib/timers.js
@@ -218,11 +218,11 @@ function TimersList(msecs, unrefed) {
   if (unrefed === true)
     timer.unref();
   timer.start(msecs);
-
-  timer[kOnTimeout] = listOnTimeout;
 }
 
-function listOnTimeout() {
+// adds listOnTimeout to the C++ object prototype, as
+// V8 would not inline it otherwise.
+TimerWrap.prototype[kOnTimeout] = function listOnTimeout() {
   var list = this._list;
   var msecs = list.msecs;
 
@@ -291,7 +291,7 @@ function listOnTimeout() {
     return;
 
   this.close();
-}
+};
 
 
 // An optimization so that the try/finally only de-optimizes (since at least v8