diff --git a/Lib/weakref.py b/Lib/weakref.py
index b6b45282d06..32c11abfaca 100644
--- a/Lib/weakref.py
+++ b/Lib/weakref.py
@@ -5,6 +5,10 @@ This module is an implementation of PEP 205:
 http://python.sourceforge.net/peps/pep-0205.html
 """
 
+# Naming convention: Variables named "wr" are weak reference objects;
+# they are called this instead of "ref" to avoid name collisions with
+# the module-global ref() function imported from _weakref.
+
 import UserDict
 
 from _weakref import \
@@ -23,8 +27,13 @@ __all__ = ["ref", "proxy", "getweakrefcount", "getweakrefs",
            "WeakKeyDictionary", "ReferenceType", "ProxyType",
            "CallableProxyType", "ProxyTypes", "WeakValueDictionary"]
 
-class WeakValueDictionary(UserDict.UserDict):
 
+class WeakValueDictionary(UserDict.UserDict):
+    """Mapping class that references values weakly.
+
+    Entries in the dictionary will be discarded when no strong
+    reference to the value exists anymore
+    """
     # We inherit the constructor without worrying about the input
     # dictionary; since it uses our .update() method, we get the right
     # checks (if the other dictionary is a WeakValueDictionary,
@@ -48,19 +57,19 @@ class WeakValueDictionary(UserDict.UserDict):
 
     def copy(self):
         new = WeakValueDictionary()
-        for key, ref in self.data.items():
-            o = ref()
+        for key, wr in self.data.items():
+            o = wr()
             if o is not None:
                 new[key] = o
         return new
 
     def get(self, key, default=None):
         try:
-            ref = self.data[key]
+            wr = self.data[key]
         except KeyError:
             return default
         else:
-            o = ref()
+            o = wr()
             if o is None:
                 # This should only happen
                 return default
@@ -69,51 +78,56 @@ class WeakValueDictionary(UserDict.UserDict):
 
     def items(self):
         L = []
-        for key, ref in self.data.items():
-            o = ref()
+        for key, wr in self.data.items():
+            o = wr()
             if o is not None:
                 L.append((key, o))
         return L
 
     def popitem(self):
         while 1:
-            key, ref = self.data.popitem()
-            o = ref()
+            key, wr = self.data.popitem()
+            o = wr()
             if o is not None:
                 return key, o
 
     def setdefault(self, key, default):
         try:
-            ref = self.data[key]
+            wr = self.data[key]
         except KeyError:
             def remove(o, data=self.data, key=key):
                 del data[key]
-            ref = ref(default, remove)
-            self.data[key] = ref
+            self.data[key] = ref(default, remove)
             return default
         else:
-            return ref()
+            return wr()
 
     def update(self, dict):
         d = self.data
-        L = []
         for key, o in dict.items():
             def remove(o, data=d, key=key):
                 del data[key]
-            L.append((key, ref(o, remove)))
-        for key, r in L:
-            d[key] = r
+            d[key] = ref(o, remove)
 
     def values(self):
         L = []
-        for ref in self.data.values():
-            o = ref()
+        for wr in self.data.values():
+            o = wr()
             if o is not None:
                 L.append(o)
         return L
 
 
 class WeakKeyDictionary(UserDict.UserDict):
+    """ Mapping class that references keys weakly.
+
+    Entries in the dictionary will be discarded when there is no
+    longer a strong reference to the key. This can be used to
+    associate additional data with an object owned by other parts of
+    an application without adding attributes to those objects. This
+    can be especially useful with objects that override attribute
+    accesses.
+    """
 
     def __init__(self, dict=None):
         self.data = {}
@@ -155,8 +169,8 @@ class WeakKeyDictionary(UserDict.UserDict):
 
     def keys(self):
         L = []
-        for ref in self.data.keys():
-            o = ref()
+        for wr in self.data.keys():
+            o = wr()
             if o is not None:
                 L.append(o)
         return L
@@ -173,11 +187,9 @@ class WeakKeyDictionary(UserDict.UserDict):
 
     def update(self, dict):
         d = self.data
-        L = []
         for key, value in dict.items():
-            L.append((ref(key, self._remove), value))
-        for key, r in L:
-            d[key] = r
+            d[ref(key, self._remove)] = value
+
 
 # no longer needed
 del UserDict