diff --git a/libs/math/rectangles/rectangles-tests.factor b/libs/math/rectangles/rectangles-tests.factor
index 68dad47fb3..d7c6c09e93 100644
--- a/libs/math/rectangles/rectangles-tests.factor
+++ b/libs/math/rectangles/rectangles-tests.factor
@@ -2,39 +2,39 @@ USING: tools.test math.rectangles prettyprint io.streams.string
 kernel accessors ;
 in: math.rectangles.tests
 
-{ RECT: { 10 10 } { 20 20 } ; }
+{ rect{ { 10 10 } { 20 20 } } }
 [
-    RECT: { 10 10 } { 50 50 } ;
-    RECT: { -10 -10 } { 40 40 } ;
+    rect{ { 10 10 } { 50 50 } }
+    rect{ { -10 -10 } { 40 40 } }
     rect-intersect
 ] unit-test
 
-{ RECT: { 200 200 } { 0 0 } ; }
+{ rect{ { 200 200 } { 0 0 } } }
 [
-    RECT: { 100 100 } { 50 50 } ;
-    RECT: { 200 200 } { 40 40 } ;
+    rect{ { 100 100 } { 50 50 } }
+    rect{ { 200 200 } { 40 40 } }
     rect-intersect
 ] unit-test
 
 { f } [
-    RECT: { 100 100 } { 50 50 } ;
-    RECT: { 200 200 } { 40 40 } ;
+    rect{ { 100 100 } { 50 50 } }
+    rect{ { 200 200 } { 40 40 } }
     contains-rect?
 ] unit-test
 
 { t } [
-    RECT: { 100 100 } { 50 50 } ;
-    RECT: { 120 120 } { 40 40 } ;
+    rect{ { 100 100 } { 50 50 } }
+    rect{ { 120 120 } { 40 40 } }
     contains-rect?
 ] unit-test
 
 { f } [
-    RECT: { 1000 100 } { 50 50 } ;
-    RECT: { 120 120 } { 40 40 } ;
+    rect{ { 1000 100 } { 50 50 } }
+    rect{ { 120 120 } { 40 40 } }
     contains-rect?
 ] unit-test
 
-{ RECT: { 10 20 } { 20 20 } ; } [
+{ rect{ { 10 20 } { 20 20 } } } [
     {
         { 20 20 }
         { 10 40 }
@@ -42,5 +42,5 @@ in: math.rectangles.tests
     } rect-containing
 ] unit-test
 
-! Prettyprint for RECT: didn't do nesting check properly
-{ } [ [ RECT: f f ; dup >>dim . ] with-string-writer drop ] unit-test
+! Prettyprint for rect{ didn't do nesting check properly
+{ } [ [ rect{ { 1 2 } { 3 4 } } dup >>dim . ] with-string-writer drop ] unit-test
diff --git a/libs/math/rectangles/rectangles.factor b/libs/math/rectangles/rectangles.factor
index 0ba4d85c0e..fa6e5504d9 100644
--- a/libs/math/rectangles/rectangles.factor
+++ b/libs/math/rectangles/rectangles.factor
@@ -1,14 +1,19 @@
 ! Copyright (C) 2008, 2009 Slava Pestov.
 ! See http://factorcode.org/license.txt for BSD license.
-USING: kernel arrays sequences math math.vectors accessors
-parser lexer ;
+USING: accessors arrays combinators.short-circuit kernel lexer
+math math.vectors parser sequences ;
 in: math.rectangles
 
 TUPLE: rect { loc initial: { 0 0 } } { dim initial: { 0 0 } } ;
 
 : <rect> ( loc dim -- rect ) rect boa ; inline
 
-SYNTAX: \ RECT: scan-object scan-object ";" expect <rect> suffix! ;
+ERROR: bad-rectangle object ;
+
+: ensure-rect-shape ( obj -- obj )
+    dup { [ sequence? ] [ length 2 = ] [ first2 [ length 2 = ] bi@ and ] } 1&& [ bad-rectangle ] unless ;
+
+SYNTAX: \ rect{ \ } [ ensure-rect-shape first2 <rect> ] parse-literal ;
 
 : <zero-rect> ( -- rect ) rect new ; inline