diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 215bd89c6429f..2f9a784c8902d 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -69,8 +69,6 @@ Currently, the `@compat` macro supports the following syntaxes:
 
 * `fma(x,y,z)` and `muladd(x,y,z)` can be used in Julia 0.3 for `x*y+z`.
 
-* `finalize(x)` is a no-op on Julia 0.3; in 0.4 it forces a registered finalizer to run on `x`
-
 ## Renamed functions
 
 * `itrunc`, `iround`, `iceil`, `ifloor` are now accessed via `trunc(T, x)`, etc. [#9133](https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/pull/9133)
diff --git a/src/Compat.jl b/src/Compat.jl
index e7c07e0380917..adf5ea708998e 100644
--- a/src/Compat.jl
+++ b/src/Compat.jl
@@ -450,9 +450,4 @@ if VERSION < v"0.4.0-dev+4939"
     export isvalid
 end
 
-if VERSION < v"0.4.0-dev+1969"
-    finalize(x) = nothing
-    export finalize
-end
-
 end # module
diff --git a/test/runtests.jl b/test/runtests.jl
index 5dba47b1ba977..d987f990e1911 100644
--- a/test/runtests.jl
+++ b/test/runtests.jl
@@ -342,6 +342,3 @@ if VERSION > v"0.3.99"
         @test foo(5) == Int
     end
 end
-
-# finalize
-@test finalize(1) == nothing
\ No newline at end of file