diff --git a/base/libuv.jl b/base/libuv.jl
index b0116cd613d7e..77eadd73ce60e 100644
--- a/base/libuv.jl
+++ b/base/libuv.jl
@@ -59,8 +59,10 @@ type UVError <: Exception
     UVError(p::AbstractString,code::Integer)=new(p,code)
 end
 
-struverror(err::UVError) = bytestring(ccall(:uv_strerror,Cstring,(Int32,),err.code))
-uverrorname(err::UVError) = bytestring(ccall(:uv_err_name,Cstring,(Int32,),err.code))
+struverror(err::Int32) = bytestring(ccall(:uv_strerror,Cstring,(Int32,),err))
+struverror(err::UVError) = struverror(err.code)
+uverrorname(err::Int32) = bytestring(ccall(:uv_err_name,Cstring,(Int32,),err))
+uverrorname(err::UVError) = uverrorname(err.code)
 
 uv_error(prefix::Symbol, c::Integer) = uv_error(string(prefix),c)
 uv_error(prefix::AbstractString, c::Integer) = c < 0 ? throw(UVError(prefix,c)) : nothing
diff --git a/base/socket.jl b/base/socket.jl
index 367a5e149c321..436ff70fd4137 100644
--- a/base/socket.jl
+++ b/base/socket.jl
@@ -545,6 +545,16 @@ end
 
 ##
 
+type DNSError <: Exception
+    host::AbstractString
+    code::Int32
+end
+
+function show(io::IO, err::DNSError)
+    print(io, "DNSError: ", err.host, ", ", struverror(err.code),
+                                      " (", uverrorname(err.code), ")")
+end
+
 callback_dict = ObjectIdDict()
 
 function uv_getaddrinfocb(req::Ptr{Void}, status::Cint, addrinfo::Ptr{Void})
@@ -553,7 +563,7 @@ function uv_getaddrinfocb(req::Ptr{Void}, status::Cint, addrinfo::Ptr{Void})
     cb = unsafe_pointer_to_objref(data)::Function
     pop!(callback_dict,cb) # using pop forces an error if cb not in callback_dict
     if status != 0 || addrinfo == C_NULL
-        cb(UVError("getaddrinfo callback",status))
+        cb(UVError("uv_getaddrinfocb received an unexpected status code", status))
     else
         freeaddrinfo = addrinfo
         while addrinfo != C_NULL
@@ -577,8 +587,16 @@ end
 
 function getaddrinfo(cb::Function, host::ASCIIString)
     callback_dict[cb] = cb
-    uv_error("getaddrinfo",ccall(:jl_getaddrinfo, Int32, (Ptr{Void}, Cstring, Ptr{UInt8}, Any, Ptr{Void}),
-                                 eventloop(), host, C_NULL, cb, uv_jl_getaddrinfocb::Ptr{Void}))
+    status = ccall(:jl_getaddrinfo, Int32, (Ptr{Void}, Cstring, Ptr{UInt8}, Any, Ptr{Void}),
+                   eventloop(), host, C_NULL, cb, uv_jl_getaddrinfocb::Ptr{Void})
+    if status == UV_EINVAL
+        throw(ArgumentError("Invalid uv_getaddrinfo() agument"))
+    elseif status in [UV_ENOMEM, UV_ENOBUFS]
+        throw(OutOfMemoryError())
+    elseif status < 0
+        throw(UVError("uv_getaddrinfo returned an unexpected error code", status))
+    end
+    return nothing
 end
 getaddrinfo(cb::Function, host::AbstractString) = getaddrinfo(cb,ascii(host))
 
@@ -587,9 +605,19 @@ function getaddrinfo(host::ASCIIString)
     getaddrinfo(host) do IP
         notify(c,IP)
     end
-    ip = wait(c)
-    isa(ip,UVError) && throw(ip)
-    return ip::IPAddr
+    r = wait(c)
+    if isa(r,UVError)
+        if r.code in [UV_EAI_NONAME, UV_EAI_AGAIN, UV_EAI_FAIL, UV_EAI_NODATA]
+            throw(DNSError(host,r.code))
+        elseif r.code == UV_EAI_SYSTEM
+            throw(SystemError("uv_getaddrinfocb"))
+        elseif r.code == UV_EAI_MEMORY
+            throw(OutOfMemoryError())
+        else
+            throw(r)
+        end
+    end
+    return r::IPAddr
 end
 getaddrinfo(host::AbstractString) = getaddrinfo(ascii(host))
 
diff --git a/test/socket.jl b/test/socket.jl
index 550fc65b73d5f..b9cba7b7e0750 100644
--- a/test/socket.jl
+++ b/test/socket.jl
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ mktempdir() do tmpdir
     end
 end
 
-@test_throws Base.UVError getaddrinfo(".invalid")
+@test_throws Base.DNSError getaddrinfo(".invalid")
 @test_throws ArgumentError getaddrinfo("localhost\0") # issue #10994
 @test_throws Base.UVError connect("localhost", 21452)
 
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ port2, server2 = listenany(port)
 close(server)
 close(server2)
 
-@test_throws Base.UVError connect(".invalid",80)
+@test_throws Base.DNSError connect(".invalid",80)
 
 begin
     a = UDPSocket()