diff --git a/lib/timers.js b/lib/timers.js
index 9e2336d058ba..6d6066a01f07 100644
--- a/lib/timers.js
+++ b/lib/timers.js
@@ -170,8 +170,9 @@ exports.active = function(item) {
 exports.setTimeout = function(callback, after) {
   var timer;
 
-  after = ~~after;
-  if (after < 1 || after > TIMEOUT_MAX) {
+  after *= 1; // coalesce to number or NaN
+
+  if (!(after >= 1 && after <= TIMEOUT_MAX)) {
     after = 1; // schedule on next tick, follows browser behaviour
   }
 
@@ -222,8 +223,9 @@ exports.setInterval = function(callback, repeat) {
 
   if (process.domain) timer.domain = process.domain;
 
-  repeat = ~~repeat;
-  if (repeat < 1 || repeat > TIMEOUT_MAX) {
+  repeat *= 1; // coalesce to number or NaN
+
+  if (!(repeat >= 1 && repeat <= TIMEOUT_MAX)) {
     repeat = 1; // schedule on next tick, follows browser behaviour
   }
 
diff --git a/test/simple/test-timers.js b/test/simple/test-timers.js
index 51e251e17383..98e6bc3def1d 100644
--- a/test/simple/test-timers.js
+++ b/test/simple/test-timers.js
@@ -45,7 +45,8 @@ var inputs = [
   1,
   1.0,
   10,
-  2147483648 // browser behaviour: timeouts > 2^31-1 run on next tick
+  2147483648,     // browser behaviour: timeouts > 2^31-1 run on next tick
+  12345678901234  // ditto
 ];
 
 var timeouts = [];