diff --git a/base/docs/helpdb/Base.jl b/base/docs/helpdb/Base.jl
index d725d54390b6da..d5f9000b947beb 100644
--- a/base/docs/helpdb/Base.jl
+++ b/base/docs/helpdb/Base.jl
@@ -2027,13 +2027,6 @@ algorithms. See [`muladd`](@ref).
 """
 fma
 
-"""
-    copy!(dest, src)
-
-Copy all elements from collection `src` to array `dest`. Returns `dest`.
-"""
-copy!(dest,src)
-
 """
     copy!(dest, do, src, so, N)
 
diff --git a/base/multidimensional.jl b/base/multidimensional.jl
index 6e0b8a567b57f7..00b8ff762d07bc 100644
--- a/base/multidimensional.jl
+++ b/base/multidimensional.jl
@@ -209,6 +209,16 @@ module IteratorsMD
     @inline _split{N}(tN::NTuple{N,Any}, ::Tuple{}, ::Type{Val{N}}) = tN, ()  # ambig.
     @inline _split{N}(tN,                ::Tuple{}, ::Type{Val{N}}) = tN, ()
     @inline _split{N}(tN::NTuple{N,Any},  trest,    ::Type{Val{N}}) = tN, trest
+
+    @inline function split(I::CartesianIndex, V::Type{<:Val})
+        i, j = split(I.I, V)
+        CartesianIndex(i), CartesianIndex(j)
+    end
+    function split(R::CartesianRange, V::Type{<:Val})
+        istart, jstart = split(first(R), V)
+        istop,  jstop  = split(last(R), V)
+        CartesianRange(istart, istop), CartesianRange(jstart, jstop)
+    end
 end  # IteratorsMD
 
 
@@ -781,6 +791,11 @@ function fill!{T}(A::AbstractArray{T}, x)
     A
 end
 
+"""
+    copy!(dest, src) -> dest
+
+Copy all elements from collection `src` to array `dest`.
+"""
 function copy!{T,N}(dest::AbstractArray{T,N}, src::AbstractArray{T,N})
     @boundscheck checkbounds(dest, indices(src)...)
     for I in eachindex(IndexStyle(src,dest), src)
@@ -789,6 +804,12 @@ function copy!{T,N}(dest::AbstractArray{T,N}, src::AbstractArray{T,N})
     dest
 end
 
+"""
+    copy!(dest, Rdest::CartesianRange, src, Rsrc::CartesianRange) -> dest
+
+Copy the block of `src` in the range of `Rsrc` to the block of `dest`
+in the range of `Rdest`. The sizes of the two regions must match.
+"""
 function copy!(dest::AbstractArray, Rdest::CartesianRange, src::AbstractArray, Rsrc::CartesianRange)
     isempty(Rdest) && return dest
     if size(Rdest) != size(Rsrc)
@@ -798,9 +819,16 @@ function copy!(dest::AbstractArray, Rdest::CartesianRange, src::AbstractArray, R
     @boundscheck checkbounds(dest, Rdest.stop)
     @boundscheck checkbounds(src, Rsrc.start)
     @boundscheck checkbounds(src, Rsrc.stop)
-    deltaI = Rdest.start - Rsrc.start
-    for I in Rsrc
-        @inbounds dest[I+deltaI] = src[I]
+    ΔI = Rdest.start - Rsrc.start
+    # For reasons of performance, split out the first dimension
+    ΔI1, ΔItail = IteratorsMD.split(ΔI, Val{1})
+    R1, Rtail = IteratorsMD.split(Rsrc, Val{1})
+    Δi, r1 = ΔI1[1], convert(Tuple{UnitRange}, R1)[1]
+    for I in Rtail
+        Idest = I+ΔItail
+        for i in r1
+            @inbounds dest[i+Δi, Idest] = src[i, I]
+        end
     end
     dest
 end
diff --git a/doc/src/stdlib/arrays.md b/doc/src/stdlib/arrays.md
index 0e097e7bb71a7a..87c06ac591ebb8 100644
--- a/doc/src/stdlib/arrays.md
+++ b/doc/src/stdlib/arrays.md
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ Base.Broadcast.broadcast_setindex!
 ```@docs
 Base.getindex(::AbstractArray, ::Any...)
 Base.setindex!(::AbstractArray, ::Any, ::Any...)
+Base.copy!(::AbstractArray, ::CartesianRange, ::AbstractArray, ::CartesianRange)
 Base.isassigned
 Base.Colon
 Base.CartesianIndex
diff --git a/test/copy.jl b/test/copy.jl
index 015e3b3e507bf7..2e48fc9912afe6 100644
--- a/test/copy.jl
+++ b/test/copy.jl
@@ -48,6 +48,20 @@ for (dest, src, bigsrc, emptysrc, res) in [
     @test_throws BoundsError copy!(dest, 1, src(), 2, 2)
 end
 
+let A = reshape(1:6, 3, 2), B = similar(A)
+    RA = CartesianRange(indices(A))
+    copy!(B, RA, A, RA)
+    @test B == A
+end
+let A = reshape(1:6, 3, 2), B = zeros(8,8)
+    RA = CartesianRange(indices(A))
+    copy!(B, CartesianRange((5:7,2:3)), A, RA)
+    @test B[5:7,2:3] == A
+    B[5:7,2:3] = 0
+    @test all(x->x==0, B)
+end
+
+
 # test behavior of shallow and deep copying
 let a = Any[[1]], q = QuoteNode([1])
     ca = copy(a); dca = @inferred(deepcopy(a))
@@ -128,4 +142,3 @@ end
         @test bar2.fooDict[bar2.foo] != nothing
     end
 end
-