diff --git a/base/deprecated.jl b/base/deprecated.jl
index 8e59e53e1269ec..6744e1b374c450 100644
--- a/base/deprecated.jl
+++ b/base/deprecated.jl
@@ -801,6 +801,8 @@ macro MIME(s)
 end
 end)
 
+@deprecate write(x) write(STDOUT::IO, x)
+
 # During the 0.5 development cycle, do not add any deprecations below this line
 # To be deprecated in 0.6
 
diff --git a/base/iostream.jl b/base/iostream.jl
index bd675c345b75c8..0a1521450d9567 100644
--- a/base/iostream.jl
+++ b/base/iostream.jl
@@ -191,8 +191,6 @@ function takebuf_raw(s::IOStream)
     return buf, sz
 end
 
-write(x) = write(STDOUT::IO, x)
-
 function readuntil(s::IOStream, delim::UInt8)
     ccall(:jl_readuntil, Array{UInt8,1}, (Ptr{Void}, UInt8), s.ios, delim)
 end