diff --git a/date.c b/date.c
index 633d1176fe..1e9cfe4b6f 100644
--- a/date.c
+++ b/date.c
@@ -1132,7 +1132,11 @@ static void date_yesterday(struct tm *tm, struct tm *now, int *num)
 
 static void date_time(struct tm *tm, struct tm *now, int hour)
 {
-	if (tm->tm_hour < 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_hour = hour;
 	tm->tm_min = 0;
diff --git a/t/t0006-date.sh b/t/t0006-date.sh
index b9bb7a05d9..62cbada774 100755
--- a/t/t0006-date.sh
+++ b/t/t0006-date.sh
@@ -209,8 +209,12 @@ check_approxidate '6pm yesterday' '2009-08-29 18:00:00'
 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 yesterday' '2009-08-29 12:00:00'
+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 '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'
 check_approxidate '10am noon' '2009-08-29 12:00:00'
 check_approxidate 'January 5th yesterday' '2009-01-29 19:20:00'