diff -r 6f0e49ed0589 Objects/dictobject.c
--- a/Objects/dictobject.c	Wed Nov 14 11:19:42 2012 +0000
+++ b/Objects/dictobject.c	Wed Nov 14 15:10:29 2012 +0200
@@ -242,6 +242,12 @@
 static PyDictObject *free_list[PyDict_MAXFREELIST];
 static int numfree = 0;
 
+#ifndef PyDict_MAXFREEKEYLIST
+#define PyDict_MAXFREEKEYLIST PyDict_MAXFREELIST
+#endif
+static PyDictKeysObject *free_key_list[PyDict_MAXFREEKEYLIST];
+static int numfree_key = 0;
+
 int
 PyDict_ClearFreeList(void)
 {
@@ -252,6 +258,12 @@
         assert(PyDict_CheckExact(op));
         PyObject_GC_Del(op);
     }
+    ret += numfree_key;
+    while (numfree_key) {
+        PyDictKeysObject *keys = free_key_list[--numfree_key];
+        assert(DK_SIZE(keys) == PyDict_MINSIZE_COMBINED);
+        PyMem_FREE(keys);
+    }
     return ret;
 }
 
@@ -261,6 +273,10 @@
 {
     _PyDebugAllocatorStats(out,
                            "free PyDictObject", numfree, sizeof(PyDictObject));
+    _PyDebugAllocatorStats(out,
+                           "free PyDictKeysObject", numfree_key,
+                           sizeof(PyDictKeysObject) +
+                           sizeof(PyDictKeyEntry)*(PyDict_MINSIZE_COMBINED-1));
 }
 
 
@@ -344,11 +360,17 @@
 
     assert(size >= PyDict_MINSIZE_SPLIT);
     assert(IS_POWER_OF_2(size));
-    dk = PyMem_MALLOC(sizeof(PyDictKeysObject) +
-                      sizeof(PyDictKeyEntry) * (size-1));
-    if (dk == NULL) {
-        PyErr_NoMemory();
-        return NULL;
+    if (size == PyDict_MINSIZE_COMBINED && numfree_key) {
+        dk = free_key_list[--numfree_key];
+        assert (dk != NULL);
+    }
+    else {
+        dk = PyMem_MALLOC(sizeof(PyDictKeysObject) +
+                          sizeof(PyDictKeyEntry) * (size-1));
+        if (dk == NULL) {
+            PyErr_NoMemory();
+            return NULL;
+        }
     }
     DK_DEBUG_INCREF dk->dk_refcnt = 1;
     dk->dk_size = size;
@@ -373,7 +395,10 @@
         Py_XDECREF(entries[i].me_key);
         Py_XDECREF(entries[i].me_value);
     }
-    PyMem_FREE(keys);
+    if (n == PyDict_MINSIZE_COMBINED && numfree_key < PyDict_MAXFREEKEYLIST)
+        free_key_list[numfree_key++] = keys;
+    else
+        PyMem_FREE(keys);
 }
 
 #define new_values(size) PyMem_NEW(PyObject *, size)