diff --git a/lib/nokogiri/xml/node.rb b/lib/nokogiri/xml/node.rb
index bdaae38ebea..e39c5f6fb0b 100644
--- a/lib/nokogiri/xml/node.rb
+++ b/lib/nokogiri/xml/node.rb
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 require 'stringio'
 require 'nokogiri/xml/node/save_options'
+require 'nokogiri/xml/xpath_functions'
 
 module Nokogiri
   module XML
@@ -145,7 +146,11 @@ def search *paths
       def xpath *paths
         return NodeSet.new(document) unless document
 
+        default_handler = paths.include?(nil) ? nil : XPathFunctions.handler
         paths, handler, ns, binds = extract_params(paths)
+        if handler.nil? and caller.find { |m| m =~ /:in `xpath'/ }.nil?
+          handler = default_handler
+        end
 
         sets = paths.map { |path|
           ctx = XPathContext.new(self)
diff --git a/lib/nokogiri/xml/xpath_functions.rb b/lib/nokogiri/xml/xpath_functions.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..9c18f2d76a2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/nokogiri/xml/xpath_functions.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+module Nokogiri
+  module XML
+    class XPathFunctions
+      @@handler = nil
+      class << self
+        def handler
+          @@handler ||= create_handler
+        end
+
+        ###
+        # call-seq: define :sym, &block
+        #
+        # Define a new global XPath function.
+        #
+        #   Nokogiri::XML::XPathFunctions.define(:regex) do |node_set, regex|
+        #     node_set.find_all { |node| node['some_attribute'] =~ /#{regex}/ }
+        #   end
+        #
+        #   node.xpath('.//title[regex(., "\w+")]')
+        # 
+        # Any custom handler passed to Node#xpath the normal way will override
+        # the default internal handler. Passing +nil+ will evaluate the expression
+        # with no custom function handler at all.
+        #
+        def define sym, &block
+          handler.__class__.send(:define_method, sym, &block)
+        end
+        
+        ###
+        # call-seq: undef :sym
+        #
+        # Undefine a previously-defined global XPath function.
+        #
+        #   Nokogiri::XML::XPathFunctions.undef(:regex)
+        # 
+        def undef sym
+          handler.__class__.send(:undef_method, sym)
+        end
+        
+        ###
+        # call-seq: reset!
+        #
+        # Reset the global XPath function handler to its default state
+        # (i.e., no user-defined functions)
+        #
+        #   Nokogiri::XML::XPathFunctions.reset!
+        # 
+        def reset!
+          @@handler = nil
+        end
+
+        ###
+        # Create a handler class with NO normal methods but the bare
+        # necessities: #send and #method_missing.
+        # 
+        # All other methods will be aliased as __#{method}__ and invoked
+        # via #method_missing if they haven't been overridden via #define
+        def create_handler
+          klazz = Class.new
+          klazz.instance_methods.each do |method|
+            unless method =~ /(^__)|(^send$)/
+              klazz.send(:alias_method,:"__#{method}__", method.to_sym)
+              klazz.send(:undef_method,method.to_sym)
+            end
+          end
+          klazz.send(:define_method, :method_missing) do |sym, *args|
+            if sym.to_s =~ /^__(.+)__$/
+              super $1.to_sym, *args
+            else
+              self.send(:"__#{sym.to_s}__", *args)
+            end
+          end
+          klazz.new
+        end
+        protected :create_handler
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/test/xml/test_xpath_functions.rb b/test/xml/test_xpath_functions.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b0bef5f08b4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/xml/test_xpath_functions.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,160 @@
+require "helper"
+
+module Nokogiri
+  module XML
+    class TestXPathFunctions < Nokogiri::TestCase
+
+      def setup
+        super
+
+        @xml = Nokogiri::XML.parse(File.read(XML_FILE), XML_FILE)
+
+        @ns = @xml.root.namespaces
+
+        # TODO: Maybe I should move this to the original code.
+        @ns["nokogiri"] = "http://www.nokogiri.org/default_ns/ruby/extensions_functions"
+        
+        Nokogiri::XML::XPathFunctions.reset!
+        
+        Nokogiri::XML::XPathFunctions.define(:things) do 
+          @things ||= []
+        end
+
+        Nokogiri::XML::XPathFunctions.define(:thing) do |thing|
+          things << thing
+          thing
+        end
+        
+        Nokogiri::XML::XPathFunctions.define(:returns_array) do |node_set|
+          things << node_set.to_a
+          node_set.to_a
+        end
+
+        Nokogiri::XML::XPathFunctions.define(:my_filter) do |set, attribute, value|
+          set.find_all { |x| x[attribute] == value }
+        end
+
+        Nokogiri::XML::XPathFunctions.define(:saves_node_set) do |node_set|
+          @things = node_set
+        end
+        
+        @handler = Nokogiri::XML::XPathFunctions.handler
+      end
+
+      def test_pass_self_to_function
+        set = if Nokogiri.uses_libxml?
+                @xml.xpath('//employee/address[my_filter(., "domestic", "Yes")]')
+              else
+                @xml.xpath('//employee/address[nokogiri:my_filter(., "domestic", "Yes")]', @ns)
+              end
+        assert set.length > 0
+        set.each do |node|
+          assert_equal 'Yes', node['domestic']
+        end
+      end
+
+      def test_custom_xpath_function_gets_strings
+        set = @xml.xpath('//employee')
+        if Nokogiri.uses_libxml?
+          @xml.xpath('//employee[thing("asdf")]')
+        else
+          @xml.xpath('//employee[nokogiri:thing("asdf")]', @ns)
+        end
+        assert_equal(set.length, @handler.things.length)
+        assert_equal(['asdf'] * set.length, @handler.things)
+      end
+
+      def test_custom_xpath_gets_true_booleans
+        set = @xml.xpath('//employee')
+        if Nokogiri.uses_libxml?
+          @xml.xpath('//employee[thing(true())]')
+        else
+          @xml.xpath("//employee[nokogiri:thing(true())]", @ns)
+        end
+        assert_equal(set.length, @handler.things.length)
+        assert_equal([true] * set.length, @handler.things)
+      end
+
+      def test_custom_xpath_gets_false_booleans
+        set = @xml.xpath('//employee')
+        if Nokogiri.uses_libxml?
+          @xml.xpath('//employee[thing(false())]')
+        else
+          @xml.xpath("//employee[nokogiri:thing(false())]", @ns)
+        end
+        assert_equal(set.length, @handler.things.length)
+        assert_equal([false] * set.length, @handler.things)
+      end
+
+      def test_custom_xpath_gets_numbers
+        set = @xml.xpath('//employee')
+        if Nokogiri.uses_libxml?
+          @xml.xpath('//employee[thing(10)]')
+        else
+          @xml.xpath('//employee[nokogiri:thing(10)]', @ns)
+        end
+        assert_equal(set.length, @handler.things.length)
+        assert_equal([10] * set.length, @handler.things)
+      end
+
+      def test_custom_xpath_gets_node_sets
+        set = @xml.xpath('//employee/name')
+        if Nokogiri.uses_libxml?
+          @xml.xpath('//employee[thing(name)]')
+        else
+          @xml.xpath('//employee[nokogiri:thing(name)]', @ns)
+        end
+        assert_equal(set.length, @handler.things.length)
+        assert_equal(set.to_a, @handler.things.flatten)
+      end
+
+      def test_custom_xpath_gets_node_sets_and_returns_array
+        set = @xml.xpath('//employee/name')
+        if Nokogiri.uses_libxml?
+          @xml.xpath('//employee[returns_array(name)]')
+        else
+          @xml.xpath('//employee[nokogiri:returns_array(name)]', @ns)
+        end
+        assert_equal(set.length, @handler.things.length)
+        assert_equal(set.to_a, @handler.things.flatten)
+      end
+
+      def test_custom_xpath_handler_is_passed_a_decorated_node_set
+        x = Module.new do
+          def awesome! ; end
+        end
+        util_decorate(@xml, x)
+
+        assert @xml.xpath('//employee/name')
+
+        @xml.xpath('//employee[saves_node_set(name)]')
+        assert_equal @xml, @handler.things.document
+        assert @handler.things.respond_to?(:awesome!)
+      end
+      
+      def test_override_custom_xpath_handler
+        assert_raise RuntimeError, /xmlXPathCompOpEval: function thing not found/ do
+          @xml.xpath('//employee[thing(name)]', nil)
+        end
+      end
+
+      def test_reset_custom_xpath_handler
+        Nokogiri::XML::XPathFunctions.reset!
+        assert_raise RuntimeError, /xmlXPathCompOpEval: function thing not found/ do
+          @xml.xpath('//employee[thing(name)]')
+        end
+      end
+      
+      def test_replace_custom_xpath_handler
+        my_handler = Class.new {
+          def thing(node_set, initial)
+            node_set.find_all { |n| n.content.start_with?(initial)  }
+          end
+        }.new
+        set = @xml.xpath('//employee[thing(name, "R")]', my_handler)
+        assert_equal(set.length, 2)
+      end
+
+    end
+  end
+end