diff --git a/date.c b/date.c
index 1e9cfe4b6f..05b78d852f 100644
--- a/date.c
+++ b/date.c
@@ -1071,13 +1071,22 @@ void datestamp(struct strbuf *out)
 /*
  * Relative time update (eg "2 days ago").  If we haven't set the time
  * yet, we need to set it from current time.
+ *
+ * The tm->tm_mday field has an additional logic of using negative values
+ * for date adjustments: -2 means yesterday and -3 the day before that,
+ * and so on.  The idea is to deref such adjustments until we are sure
+ * there's no explicit mday specification in the approxidate string.
  */
 static time_t update_tm(struct tm *tm, struct tm *now, time_t sec)
 {
 	time_t n;
 
-	if (tm->tm_mday < 0)
+	if (tm->tm_mday < 0) {
+		int offset = tm->tm_mday + 1;
+		if (sec == 0 && offset < 0)
+			sec = -offset * 24*60*60;
 		tm->tm_mday = now->tm_mday;
+	}
 	if (tm->tm_mon < 0)
 		tm->tm_mon = now->tm_mon;
 	if (tm->tm_year < 0) {
@@ -1127,38 +1136,39 @@ static void date_now(struct tm *tm, struct tm *now, int *num)
 static void date_yesterday(struct tm *tm, struct tm *now, int *num)
 {
 	*num = 0;
+	tm->tm_mday = -1;
 	update_tm(tm, now, 24*60*60);
 }
 
-static void date_time(struct tm *tm, struct tm *now, int hour)
+static void date_time(struct tm *tm, int hour)
 {
 	/*
 	 * If we do not yet have a specified day, we'll use the most recent
 	 * version of "hour" relative to now.  But that may be yesterday.
 	 */
 	if (tm->tm_mday < 0 && tm->tm_hour < hour)
-		update_tm(tm, now, 24*60*60);
+		tm->tm_mday = -2; /* eventually handled by update_tm() */
 	tm->tm_hour = hour;
 	tm->tm_min = 0;
 	tm->tm_sec = 0;
 }
 
-static void date_midnight(struct tm *tm, struct tm *now, int *num)
+static void date_midnight(struct tm *tm, struct tm *now UNUSED, int *num)
 {
 	pending_number(tm, num);
-	date_time(tm, now, 0);
+	date_time(tm, 0);
 }
 
-static void date_noon(struct tm *tm, struct tm *now, int *num)
+static void date_noon(struct tm *tm, struct tm *now UNUSED, int *num)
 {
 	pending_number(tm, num);
-	date_time(tm, now, 12);
+	date_time(tm, 12);
 }
 
-static void date_tea(struct tm *tm, struct tm *now, int *num)
+static void date_tea(struct tm *tm, struct tm *now UNUSED, int *num)
 {
 	pending_number(tm, num);
-	date_time(tm, now, 17);
+	date_time(tm, 17);
 }
 
 static void date_pm(struct tm *tm, struct tm *now UNUSED, int *num)
@@ -1201,8 +1211,9 @@ static void date_today(struct tm *tm, struct tm *now, int *num)
 	if (tm->tm_hour == now->tm_hour &&
 	    tm->tm_min == now->tm_min &&
 	    tm->tm_sec == now->tm_sec)
-		date_time(tm, now, 0);
+		date_time(tm, 0);
 	*num = 0;
+	tm->tm_mday = -1;
 	update_tm(tm, now, 0);
 }
 
diff --git a/t/t0006-date.sh b/t/t0006-date.sh
index 62cbada774..9a76b84ed9 100755
--- a/t/t0006-date.sh
+++ b/t/t0006-date.sh
@@ -210,9 +210,13 @@ check_approxidate '3:00' '2009-08-30 03:00:00'
 check_approxidate '15:00' '2009-08-30 15:00:00'
 check_approxidate 'noon today' '2009-08-30 12:00:00'
 check_approxidate 'today at noon' '2009-08-30 12:00:00' '-12 hours'
+check_approxidate 'noon today' '2009-09-01 12:00:00' '+36 hours'
 check_approxidate 'noon yesterday' '2009-08-29 12:00:00'
+check_approxidate 'noon yesterday' '2009-08-29 12:00:00' '-12 hours'
 check_approxidate 'last Friday at noon' '2009-08-28 12:00:00'
 check_approxidate 'last Friday at noon' '2009-08-28 12:00:00' '-12 hours'
+check_approxidate 'tea last saturday' '2009-08-29 17:00:00'
+check_approxidate 'tea last saturday' '2009-08-29 17:00:00' '-12 hours'
 check_approxidate 'January 5th noon pm' '2009-01-05 12:00:00'
 check_approxidate 'January 5th noon pm' '2009-01-05 12:00:00' '-12 hours'
 check_approxidate 'January 5th today pm' '2009-01-30 12:00:00'