diff -r 4347ce7acd84 Doc/library/inspect.rst
--- a/Doc/library/inspect.rst	Thu May 14 12:19:16 2015 -0400
+++ b/Doc/library/inspect.rst	Thu May 14 12:54:32 2015 -0400
@@ -667,27 +667,8 @@
 
          Arguments for which :meth:`Signature.bind` or
          :meth:`Signature.bind_partial` relied on a default value are skipped.
-         However, if needed, it is easy to include them.
-
-      ::
-
-        >>> def foo(a, b=10):
-        ...     pass
-
-        >>> sig = signature(foo)
-        >>> ba = sig.bind(5)
-
-        >>> ba.args, ba.kwargs
-        ((5,), {})
-
-        >>> for param in sig.parameters.values():
-        ...     if (param.name not in ba.arguments
-        ...             and param.default is not param.empty):
-        ...         ba.arguments[param.name] = param.default
-
-        >>> ba.args, ba.kwargs
-        ((5, 10), {})
-
+         However, if needed, use :meth:`BoundArguments.apply_defaults` to add
+         them.
 
    .. attribute:: BoundArguments.args
 
@@ -699,6 +680,24 @@
       A dict of keyword arguments values.  Dynamically computed from the
       :attr:`arguments` attribute.
 
+   .. method:: BoundArguments.apply_defaults()
+
+      Set default values for missing arguments.
+
+      For variable-positional arguments (``*args``) the default is an
+      empty tuple.
+
+      For variable-keyword arguments (``**kwargs``) the default is an
+      empty dict.
+
+      ::
+
+        >>> def foo(a, b='ham', *args): pass
+        >>> ba = inspect.signature(foo).bind('spam')
+        >>> ba.apply_defaults()
+        >>> ba.arguments
+        OrderedDict([('a', 'spam'), ('b', 'ham'), ('args', ())])
+
    The :attr:`args` and :attr:`kwargs` properties can be used to invoke
    functions::
 
diff -r 4347ce7acd84 Lib/inspect.py
--- a/Lib/inspect.py	Thu May 14 12:19:16 2015 -0400
+++ b/Lib/inspect.py	Thu May 14 12:54:32 2015 -0400
@@ -2440,6 +2440,37 @@
 
         return kwargs
 
+    def apply_defaults(self):
+        """Set default values for missing arguments.
+
+        For variable-positional arguments (*args) the default is an
+        empty tuple.
+
+        For variable-keyword arguments (**kwargs) the default is an
+        empty dict.
+        """
+        arguments = self.arguments
+        if not arguments:
+            return
+        new_arguments = []
+        for param in self._signature.parameters.values():
+            name = param.name
+            try:
+                new_arguments.append((name, arguments[name]))
+            except KeyError:
+                if param.default is not _empty:
+                    val = param.default
+                elif param.kind is _VAR_POSITIONAL:
+                    val = ()
+                elif param.kind is _VAR_KEYWORD:
+                    val = {}
+                else:
+                    # This BoundArguments was likely produced by
+                    # Signature.bind_partial().
+                    continue
+                new_arguments.append((name, val))
+        self.arguments = OrderedDict(new_arguments)
+
     def __eq__(self, other):
         return (issubclass(other.__class__, BoundArguments) and
                 self.signature == other.signature and
diff -r 4347ce7acd84 Lib/test/test_inspect.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_inspect.py	Thu May 14 12:19:16 2015 -0400
+++ b/Lib/test/test_inspect.py	Thu May 14 12:54:32 2015 -0400
@@ -3143,6 +3143,41 @@
                 ba_pickled = pickle.loads(pickle.dumps(ba, ver))
                 self.assertEqual(ba, ba_pickled)
 
+    def test_signature_bound_arguments_apply_defaults(self):
+        def foo(a, b=1, *args, c:1={}, **kw): pass
+        sig = inspect.signature(foo)
+
+        ba = sig.bind(20)
+        ba.apply_defaults()
+        self.assertEqual(
+            list(ba.arguments.items()),
+            [('a', 20), ('b', 1), ('args', ()), ('c', {}), ('kw', {})])
+
+        # Make sure that we preserve the order:
+        # i.e. 'c' should be *before* 'kw'.
+        ba = sig.bind(10, 20, 30, d=1)
+        ba.apply_defaults()
+        self.assertEqual(
+            list(ba.arguments.items()),
+            [('a', 10), ('b', 20), ('args', (30,)), ('c', {}), ('kw', {'d':1})])
+
+        # Make sure that BoundArguments produced by bind_partial()
+        # are supported.
+        def foo(a, b): pass
+        sig = inspect.signature(foo)
+        ba = sig.bind_partial(20)
+        ba.apply_defaults()
+        self.assertEqual(
+            list(ba.arguments.items()),
+            [('a', 20)])
+
+        # Test no args
+        def foo(): pass
+        sig = inspect.signature(foo)
+        ba = sig.bind()
+        ba.apply_defaults()
+        self.assertEqual(list(ba.arguments.items()), [])
+
 
 class TestSignaturePrivateHelpers(unittest.TestCase):
     def test_signature_get_bound_param(self):