diff --git a/src/liblwevent/300_fdevent.c b/src/liblwevent/300_fdevent.c
index 5d04bf4..4b1a88a 100644
--- a/src/liblwevent/300_fdevent.c
+++ b/src/liblwevent/300_fdevent.c
@@ -47,11 +47,11 @@ struct lwevent* lwevent_new(int fd, int events, lwevent_callback callback)
 
 
 
-/* lwevent_free()
+/* lwevent_free_and_close()
  *  Mark `ev' as invalid, closing its file descriptor and calling the destructor (if there is one).
  *  If the object is already invalid, or is null, do nothing.
  */
-void lwevent_free(struct lwevent* ev)
+void lwevent_free_and_close(struct lwevent* ev)
 {
     if(!ev || ev->fd == -1) return;
 
@@ -63,6 +63,24 @@ void lwevent_free(struct lwevent* ev)
 
 
 
+/* lwevent_free()
+ *  Mark `ev' as invalid, calling the destructor (if there is one). If the object is already 
+ *  invalid, or is null, do nothing. Also remove `ev->fd' from epoll's consideration.
+ */
+void lwevent_free(struct lwevent* ev)
+{
+    int dummy;
+
+    if(!ev || ev->fd == -1) return;
+
+    /* call destructor, deregister from epoll, mark as invalid */
+    if(ev->dtor) ev->dtor(ev);
+    dummy = lwevent_deactivate(ev);
+    _lwevent_invalid(ev);
+}
+
+
+
 /* lwevent_deactivate()
  *  Temporarily deactivate `ev'. Calls epoll_ctl(EPOLL_CTL_DEL).
  */
diff --git a/src/liblwevent/300_fdevent.h b/src/liblwevent/300_fdevent.h
index 24ce749..ea3cdbc 100644
--- a/src/liblwevent/300_fdevent.h
+++ b/src/liblwevent/300_fdevent.h
@@ -98,6 +98,20 @@ without consequence. At the end of the event loop, once no more callbacks are qu
 objects are freed. This means that you cannot continue to refer to invalid objects after a completed
 call to lwevent_wait().
 
+*/
+void lwevent_free_and_close(struct lwevent* ev);
+
+
+
+/*! \brief Free an event structure.
+
+\param ev Event structure. May be 0.
+
+This function will call the registered destructor of \a ev (see \ref fdparams) and free any memory
+used by \a ev. It may be called at any time in the event loop. If called with a null argument, it is
+a no-op. The file descriptor associated with \a ev is not modified (but it is deregistered from the
+event loop).
+
 */
 void lwevent_free(struct lwevent* ev);