diff --git a/src/unix/core.c b/src/unix/core.c
index e7e9f4b8..d0a4037c 100644
--- a/src/unix/core.c
+++ b/src/unix/core.c
@@ -510,6 +510,23 @@ skip:
 }
 
 
+/* close() on macos has the "interesting" quirk that it fails with EINTR
+ * without closing the file descriptor when a thread is in the cancel state.
+ * That's why libuv calls close$NOCANCEL() instead.
+ */
+int uv__close_nocancel(int fd) {
+#if defined(__APPLE__)
+#pragma GCC diagnostic push
+#pragma GCC diagnostic ignored "-Wdollar-in-identifier-extension"
+  extern int close$NOCANCEL(int);
+  return close$NOCANCEL(fd);
+#pragma GCC diagnostic pop
+#else
+  return close(fd);
+#endif
+}
+
+
 int uv__close_nocheckstdio(int fd) {
   int saved_errno;
   int rc;
@@ -517,7 +534,7 @@ int uv__close_nocheckstdio(int fd) {
   assert(fd > -1);  /* Catch uninitialized io_watcher.fd bugs. */
 
   saved_errno = errno;
-  rc = close(fd);
+  rc = uv__close_nocancel(fd);
   if (rc == -1) {
     rc = UV__ERR(errno);
     if (rc == UV_EINTR || rc == UV__ERR(EINPROGRESS))
diff --git a/src/unix/fs.c b/src/unix/fs.c
index b03ff778..24a130f5 100644
--- a/src/unix/fs.c
+++ b/src/unix/fs.c
@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ extern char *mkdtemp(char *template); /* See issue #740 on AIX < 7 */
 static int uv__fs_close(int fd) {
   int rc;
 
-  rc = close(fd);
+  rc = uv__close_nocancel(fd);
   if (rc == -1)
     if (errno == EINTR || errno == EINPROGRESS)
       rc = 0;  /* The close is in progress, not an error. */
diff --git a/src/unix/internal.h b/src/unix/internal.h
index a0846970..8c8ddc86 100644
--- a/src/unix/internal.h
+++ b/src/unix/internal.h
@@ -183,6 +183,7 @@ int uv__nonblock_ioctl(int fd, int set);
 int uv__nonblock_fcntl(int fd, int set);
 int uv__close(int fd); /* preserves errno */
 int uv__close_nocheckstdio(int fd);
+int uv__close_nocancel(int fd);
 int uv__socket(int domain, int type, int protocol);
 ssize_t uv__recvmsg(int fd, struct msghdr *msg, int flags);
 void uv__make_close_pending(uv_handle_t* handle);