diff --git a/include/uv-private/uv-unix.h b/include/uv-private/uv-unix.h
index b330830b..a8dda72a 100644
--- a/include/uv-private/uv-unix.h
+++ b/include/uv-private/uv-unix.h
@@ -184,8 +184,9 @@ struct uv__io_s {
   int fd; \
 
 
-/* UV_TCP */
-#define UV_TCP_PRIVATE_FIELDS
+/* UV_TCP, idle_handle is for UV_TCP_SINGLE_ACCEPT handles */
+#define UV_TCP_PRIVATE_FIELDS         \
+  uv_idle_t* idle_handle;             \
 
 
 /* UV_UDP */
diff --git a/src/unix/core.c b/src/unix/core.c
index 0e4919c6..4bc6b77d 100644
--- a/src/unix/core.c
+++ b/src/unix/core.c
@@ -69,10 +69,13 @@ void uv_close(uv_handle_t* handle, uv_close_cb close_cb) {
     break;
 
   case UV_TTY:
-  case UV_TCP:
     uv__stream_close((uv_stream_t*)handle);
     break;
 
+  case UV_TCP:
+    uv__tcp_close((uv_tcp_t*)handle);
+    break;
+
   case UV_UDP:
     uv__udp_close((uv_udp_t*)handle);
     break;
diff --git a/src/unix/internal.h b/src/unix/internal.h
index dd46c95e..233f7428 100644
--- a/src/unix/internal.h
+++ b/src/unix/internal.h
@@ -93,7 +93,8 @@ enum {
   UV_STREAM_WRITABLE  = 0x40,   /* The stream is writable */
   UV_STREAM_BLOCKING  = 0x80,   /* Synchronous writes. */
   UV_TCP_NODELAY      = 0x100,  /* Disable Nagle. */
-  UV_TCP_KEEPALIVE    = 0x200   /* Turn on keep-alive. */
+  UV_TCP_KEEPALIVE    = 0x200,  /* Turn on keep-alive. */
+  UV_TCP_SINGLE_ACCEPT = 0x400  /* Only accept() when idle. */
 };
 
 inline static void uv__req_init(uv_loop_t* loop,
@@ -162,6 +163,7 @@ void uv__poll_close(uv_poll_t* handle);
 void uv__prepare_close(uv_prepare_t* handle);
 void uv__process_close(uv_process_t* handle);
 void uv__stream_close(uv_stream_t* handle);
+void uv__tcp_close(uv_tcp_t* handle);
 void uv__timer_close(uv_timer_t* handle);
 void uv__udp_close(uv_udp_t* handle);
 void uv__udp_finish_close(uv_udp_t* handle);
diff --git a/src/unix/stream.c b/src/unix/stream.c
index 47e32b24..26875a7c 100644
--- a/src/unix/stream.c
+++ b/src/unix/stream.c
@@ -163,6 +163,16 @@ void uv__stream_destroy(uv_stream_t* stream) {
 }
 
 
+static void uv__next_accept(uv_idle_t* idle, int status) {
+  uv_stream_t* stream = idle->data;
+
+  uv_idle_stop(idle);
+
+  if (stream->accepted_fd == -1)
+    uv__io_start(stream->loop, &stream->read_watcher);
+}
+
+
 void uv__server_io(uv_loop_t* loop, uv__io_t* w, int events) {
   int fd;
   uv_stream_t* stream = container_of(w, uv_stream_t, read_watcher);
@@ -198,14 +208,44 @@ void uv__server_io(uv_loop_t* loop, uv__io_t* w, int events) {
       }
     } else {
       stream->accepted_fd = fd;
-      stream->connection_cb((uv_stream_t*)stream, 0);
-      if (stream->accepted_fd >= 0) {
+      stream->connection_cb(stream, 0);
+
+      if (stream->accepted_fd != -1 ||
+          (stream->type == UV_TCP && stream->flags == UV_TCP_SINGLE_ACCEPT)) {
         /* The user hasn't yet accepted called uv_accept() */
         uv__io_stop(stream->loop, &stream->read_watcher);
-        return;
+        break;
       }
     }
   }
+
+  if (stream->fd != -1 &&
+      stream->accepted_fd == -1 &&
+      (stream->type == UV_TCP && stream->flags == UV_TCP_SINGLE_ACCEPT))
+  {
+    /* Defer the next accept() syscall to the next event loop tick.
+     * This lets us guarantee fair load balancing in in multi-process setups.
+     * The problem is as follows:
+     *
+     *  1. Multiple processes listen on the same socket.
+     *  2. The OS scheduler commonly gives preference to one process to
+     *     avoid task switches.
+     *  3. That process therefore accepts most of the new connections,
+     *     leading to a (sometimes very) unevenly distributed load.
+     *
+     * Here is how we mitigate this issue:
+     *
+     *  1. Accept a connection.
+     *  2. Start an idle watcher.
+     *  3. Don't accept new connections until the idle callback fires.
+     *
+     * This works because the callback only fires when there have been
+     * no recent events, i.e. none of the watched file descriptors have
+     * recently been readable or writable.
+     */
+    uv_tcp_t* tcp = (uv_tcp_t*) stream;
+    uv_idle_start(tcp->idle_handle, uv__next_accept);
+  }
 }
 
 
diff --git a/src/unix/tcp.c b/src/unix/tcp.c
index 233be825..d9cbd0b4 100644
--- a/src/unix/tcp.c
+++ b/src/unix/tcp.c
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 #include "uv.h"
 #include "internal.h"
 
+#include <stdlib.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
 #include <assert.h>
 #include <errno.h>
@@ -30,6 +31,7 @@
 int uv_tcp_init(uv_loop_t* loop, uv_tcp_t* tcp) {
   uv__stream_init(loop, (uv_stream_t*)tcp, UV_TCP);
   loop->counters.tcp_init++;
+  tcp->idle_handle = NULL;
   return 0;
 }
 
@@ -227,9 +229,29 @@ out:
 
 
 int uv_tcp_listen(uv_tcp_t* tcp, int backlog, uv_connection_cb cb) {
+  static int single_accept = -1;
+
   if (tcp->delayed_error)
     return uv__set_sys_error(tcp->loop, tcp->delayed_error);
 
+  if (single_accept == -1) {
+    const char* val = getenv("UV_TCP_SINGLE_ACCEPT");
+    single_accept = (val == NULL) || (atoi(val) != 0); /* on by default */
+  }
+
+  if (!single_accept)
+    goto no_single_accept;
+
+  tcp->idle_handle = malloc(sizeof(*tcp->idle_handle));
+  if (tcp->idle_handle == NULL)
+    return uv__set_sys_error(tcp->loop, ENOMEM);
+
+  if (uv_idle_init(tcp->loop, tcp->idle_handle))
+    abort();
+
+  tcp->flags |= UV_TCP_SINGLE_ACCEPT;
+
+no_single_accept:
   if (maybe_new_socket(tcp, AF_INET, UV_STREAM_READABLE))
     return -1;
 
@@ -356,5 +378,17 @@ int uv_tcp_keepalive(uv_tcp_t* handle, int enable, unsigned int delay) {
 
 
 int uv_tcp_simultaneous_accepts(uv_tcp_t* handle, int enable) {
+  if (enable)
+    handle->flags |= UV_TCP_SINGLE_ACCEPT;
+  else
+    handle->flags &= ~UV_TCP_SINGLE_ACCEPT;
   return 0;
 }
+
+
+void uv__tcp_close(uv_tcp_t* handle) {
+  if (handle->idle_handle)
+    uv_close((uv_handle_t*)handle->idle_handle, (uv_close_cb)free);
+
+  uv__stream_close((uv_stream_t*)handle);
+}