diff --git a/base/essentials.jl b/base/essentials.jl
index 8673765f0b8c5..82d80ebdcfb05 100644
--- a/base/essentials.jl
+++ b/base/essentials.jl
@@ -216,10 +216,10 @@ Evaluate an expression with values interpolated into it using `eval`.
 If two arguments are provided, the first is the module to evaluate in.
 """
 macro eval(ex)
-    :(Core.eval($__module__, $(Expr(:quote,ex))))
+    :(Core.eval($__module__, $(Expr(:escape, Expr(:quote,ex)))))
 end
 macro eval(mod, ex)
-    :(Core.eval($(esc(mod)), $(Expr(:quote,ex))))
+    :(Core.eval($(esc(mod)), $(Expr(:escape, Expr(:quote,ex)))))
 end
 
 argtail(x, rest...) = rest
diff --git a/src/ast.c b/src/ast.c
index fc7cdbbf5e787..759c81bdb5e55 100644
--- a/src/ast.c
+++ b/src/ast.c
@@ -1017,12 +1017,6 @@ static jl_value_t *jl_expand_macros(jl_value_t *expr, jl_module_t *inmodule, str
     if (e->head == quote_sym && jl_expr_nargs(e) == 1) {
         expr = jl_call_scm_on_ast("julia-bq-macro", jl_exprarg(e, 0), inmodule);
         JL_GC_PUSH1(&expr);
-        if (macroctx) {
-            // in a macro, `quote` also implies `escape`
-            jl_expr_t *e2 = jl_exprn(escape_sym, 1);
-            jl_array_ptr_set(e2->args, 0, expr);
-            expr = (jl_value_t*)e2;
-        }
         expr = jl_expand_macros(expr, inmodule, macroctx, onelevel);
         JL_GC_POP();
         return expr;
diff --git a/stdlib/Distributed/src/macros.jl b/stdlib/Distributed/src/macros.jl
index 7e988bc173a91..b53890017d4de 100644
--- a/stdlib/Distributed/src/macros.jl
+++ b/stdlib/Distributed/src/macros.jl
@@ -202,7 +202,7 @@ macro everywhere(procs, ex)
     imps = extract_imports(ex)
     return quote
         $(isempty(imps) ? nothing : Expr(:toplevel, imps...)) # run imports locally first
-        let ex = Expr(:toplevel, :(task_local_storage()[:SOURCE_PATH] = $(get(task_local_storage(), :SOURCE_PATH, nothing))), $(Expr(:quote, ex))),
+        let ex = Expr(:toplevel, :(task_local_storage()[:SOURCE_PATH] = $(get(task_local_storage(), :SOURCE_PATH, nothing))), $(esc(Expr(:quote, ex)))),
             procs = $(esc(procs))
             remotecall_eval(Main, procs, ex)
         end
diff --git a/test/syntax.jl b/test/syntax.jl
index 5d2b4642f2eaa..9704978eaf63d 100644
--- a/test/syntax.jl
+++ b/test/syntax.jl
@@ -2340,3 +2340,12 @@ if isodd(1) && all(iseven(2) for c in ())
 else
     @test false
 end
+
+# issue #37540
+macro m37540()
+    quote
+        x = 1
+        :($x)
+    end
+end
+@test @m37540() == 1