diff --git a/base/Base.jl b/base/Base.jl
index 24f07dfef6de7f..9d0a44b7a1f5dd 100644
--- a/base/Base.jl
+++ b/base/Base.jl
@@ -34,6 +34,8 @@ ccall(:jl_set_istopmod, Cvoid, (Any, Bool), Base, is_primary_base_module)
 macro inline()   Expr(:meta, :inline)   end
 macro noinline() Expr(:meta, :noinline) end
 
+macro _boundscheck() Expr(:boundscheck) end
+
 # Try to help prevent users from shooting them-selves in the foot
 # with ambiguities by defining a few common and critical operations
 # (and these don't need the extra convert code)
diff --git a/base/boot.jl b/base/boot.jl
index 30c340a3cc403a..122fb3f40fa112 100644
--- a/base/boot.jl
+++ b/base/boot.jl
@@ -268,11 +268,12 @@ ccall(:jl_toplevel_eval_in, Any, (Any, Any),
 macro nospecialize(x)
     _expr(:meta, :nospecialize, x)
 end
+Expr(@nospecialize args...) = _expr(args...)
 
 _is_internal(__module__) = __module__ === Core
 # can be used in place of `@assume_effects :foldable` (supposed to be used for bootstrapping)
 macro _foldable_meta()
-    return _is_internal(__module__) && _expr(:meta, _expr(:purity,
+    return _is_internal(__module__) && Expr(:meta, Expr(:purity,
         #=:consistent=#true,
         #=:effect_free=#true,
         #=:nothrow=#false,
@@ -283,6 +284,11 @@ macro _foldable_meta()
         #=:noub=#true))
 end
 
+macro inline()   Expr(:meta, :inline)   end
+macro noinline() Expr(:meta, :noinline) end
+
+macro _boundscheck() Expr(:boundscheck) end
+
 # n.b. the effects and model of these is refined in inference abstractinterpretation.jl
 TypeVar(@nospecialize(n)) = _typevar(n::Symbol, Union{}, Any)
 TypeVar(@nospecialize(n), @nospecialize(ub)) = _typevar(n::Symbol, Union{}, ub)
@@ -309,16 +315,11 @@ kwftype(@nospecialize(t)) = typeof(kwcall)
 Union{}(a...) = throw(ArgumentError("cannot construct a value of type Union{} for return result"))
 kwcall(kwargs, ::Type{Union{}}, a...) = Union{}(a...)
 
-Expr(@nospecialize args...) = _expr(args...)
-
 abstract type Exception end
 struct ErrorException <: Exception
     msg::AbstractString
 end
 
-macro inline()   Expr(:meta, :inline)   end
-macro noinline() Expr(:meta, :noinline) end
-
 struct BoundsError <: Exception
     a::Any
     i::Any
@@ -509,14 +510,14 @@ const undef = UndefInitializer()
 const Memory{T} = GenericMemory{:not_atomic, T, CPU}
 const MemoryRef{T} = GenericMemoryRef{:not_atomic, T, CPU}
 GenericMemoryRef(mem::GenericMemory) = memoryref(mem)
-eval(Core, :(GenericMemoryRef(ref::GenericMemoryRef, i::Integer) = memoryref(ref, Int(i), $(Expr(:boundscheck)))))
-eval(Core, :(GenericMemoryRef(mem::GenericMemory, i::Integer) = memoryref(memoryref(mem), Int(i), $(Expr(:boundscheck)))))
+GenericMemoryRef(ref::GenericMemoryRef, i::Integer) = memoryref(ref, Int(i), @_boundscheck)
+GenericMemoryRef(mem::GenericMemory, i::Integer) = memoryref(memoryref(mem), Int(i), @_boundscheck)
 MemoryRef(mem::Memory) = memoryref(mem)
-eval(Core, :(MemoryRef(ref::MemoryRef, i::Integer) = memoryref(ref, Int(i), $(Expr(:boundscheck)))))
-eval(Core, :(MemoryRef(mem::Memory, i::Integer) = memoryref(memoryref(mem), Int(i), $(Expr(:boundscheck)))))
+MemoryRef(ref::MemoryRef, i::Integer) = memoryref(ref, Int(i), @_boundscheck)
+MemoryRef(mem::Memory, i::Integer) = memoryref(memoryref(mem), Int(i), @_boundscheck)
 MemoryRef{T}(mem::Memory{T}) where {T} = memoryref(mem)
-eval(Core, :(MemoryRef{T}(ref::MemoryRef{T}, i::Integer) where {T} = memoryref(ref, Int(i), $(Expr(:boundscheck)))))
-eval(Core, :(MemoryRef{T}(mem::Memory{T}, i::Integer) where {T} = memoryref(memoryref(mem), Int(i), $(Expr(:boundscheck)))))
+MemoryRef{T}(ref::MemoryRef{T}, i::Integer) where {T} = memoryref(ref, Int(i), @_boundscheck)
+MemoryRef{T}(mem::Memory{T}, i::Integer) where {T} = memoryref(memoryref(mem), Int(i), @_boundscheck)
 
 # construction helpers for Array
 new_as_memoryref(self::Type{GenericMemoryRef{isatomic,T,addrspace}}, m::Int) where {T,isatomic,addrspace} = memoryref(fieldtype(self, :mem)(undef, m))
diff --git a/base/compiler/compiler.jl b/base/compiler/compiler.jl
index 997e6989312f38..b81268215578cc 100644
--- a/base/compiler/compiler.jl
+++ b/base/compiler/compiler.jl
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@ include(mod, x) = Core.include(mod, x)
 macro inline()   Expr(:meta, :inline)   end
 macro noinline() Expr(:meta, :noinline) end
 
+macro _boundscheck() Expr(:boundscheck) end
+
 convert(::Type{Any}, Core.@nospecialize x) = x
 convert(::Type{T}, x::T) where {T} = x
 
diff --git a/base/essentials.jl b/base/essentials.jl
index ece48a0e772eec..a8a3ec3c153824 100644
--- a/base/essentials.jl
+++ b/base/essentials.jl
@@ -13,8 +13,8 @@ length(a::Array) = getfield(getfield(getfield(a, :ref), :mem), :length)
 length(a::GenericMemory) = getfield(a, :length)
 throw_boundserror(A, I) = (@noinline; throw(BoundsError(A, I)))
 
-eval(:(getindex(A::GenericMemory{:not_atomic}, i::Int) = memoryrefget(memoryref(memoryref(A), i, $(Expr(:boundscheck))), :not_atomic, false)))
-eval(:(getindex(A::GenericMemoryRef{:not_atomic}) = memoryrefget(A, :not_atomic, $(Expr(:boundscheck)))))
+getindex(A::GenericMemory{:not_atomic}, i::Int) = memoryrefget(memoryref(memoryref(A), i, @_boundscheck), :not_atomic, false)
+getindex(A::GenericMemoryRef{:not_atomic}) = memoryrefget(A, :not_atomic, @_boundscheck)
 
 # multidimensional getindex will be defined later on
 
@@ -786,20 +786,19 @@ macro goto(name::Symbol)
 end
 
 # linear indexing
-eval(:(function getindex(A::Array, i::Int)
-        @boundscheck ult_int(bitcast(UInt, sub_int(i, 1)), bitcast(UInt, length(A))) || throw_boundserror(A, (i,))
-        memoryrefget(memoryref(getfield(A, :ref), i, false), :not_atomic, false)
-    end))
+function getindex(A::Array, i::Int)
+    @boundscheck ult_int(bitcast(UInt, sub_int(i, 1)), bitcast(UInt, length(A))) || throw_boundserror(A, (i,))
+    memoryrefget(memoryref(getfield(A, :ref), i, false), :not_atomic, false)
+end
 # simple Array{Any} operations needed for bootstrap
 function setindex!(A::Array{Any}, @nospecialize(x), i::Int)
     @boundscheck ult_int(bitcast(UInt, sub_int(i, 1)), bitcast(UInt, length(A))) || throw_boundserror(A, (i,))
     memoryrefset!(memoryref(getfield(A, :ref), i, false), x, :not_atomic, false)
     return A
 end
-@eval setindex!(A::Memory{Any}, @nospecialize(x), i::Int) = (memoryrefset!(memoryref(memoryref(A), i, $(Expr(:boundscheck))), x, :not_atomic, $(Expr(:boundscheck))); A)
-@eval setindex!(A::MemoryRef{T}, x) where {T} = memoryrefset!(A, convert(T, x), :not_atomic, $(Expr(:boundscheck)))
-@eval setindex!(A::MemoryRef{Any}, @nospecialize(x)) = memoryrefset!(A, x, :not_atomic, $(Expr(:boundscheck)))
-
+setindex!(A::Memory{Any}, @nospecialize(x), i::Int) = (memoryrefset!(memoryref(memoryref(A), i, @_boundscheck), x, :not_atomic, @_boundscheck); A)
+setindex!(A::MemoryRef{T}, x) where {T} = memoryrefset!(A, convert(T, x), :not_atomic, @_boundscheck)
+setindex!(A::MemoryRef{Any}, @nospecialize(x)) = memoryrefset!(A, x, :not_atomic, @_boundscheck)
 
 # SimpleVector
 
diff --git a/base/genericmemory.jl b/base/genericmemory.jl
index ec33cb67a40972..06d64708113e3a 100644
--- a/base/genericmemory.jl
+++ b/base/genericmemory.jl
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ function isassigned(a::Memory, i::Int)
     return @inbounds memoryref_isassigned(GenericMemoryRef(a, i), :not_atomic, false)
 end
 
-@eval isassigned(a::GenericMemoryRef) = memoryref_isassigned(a, :not_atomic, $(Expr(:boundscheck)))
+isassigned(a::GenericMemoryRef) = memoryref_isassigned(a, :not_atomic, @_boundscheck)
 
 ## copy ##
 function unsafe_copyto!(dest::MemoryRef{T}, src::MemoryRef{T}, n) where {T}
@@ -182,14 +182,12 @@ getindex(A::Memory, c::Colon) = copy(A)
 
 ## Indexing: setindex! ##
 
-@eval begin
 function setindex!(A::Memory{T}, x, i1::Int) where {T}
     val = x isa T ? x : convert(T,x)::T
-    ref = memoryref(memoryref(A), i1, $(Expr(:boundscheck)))
-    memoryrefset!(ref, val, :not_atomic, $(Expr(:boundscheck)))
+    ref = memoryref(memoryref(A), i1, @_boundscheck)
+    memoryrefset!(ref, val, :not_atomic, @_boundscheck)
     return A
 end
-end
 function setindex!(A::Memory{T}, x, i1::Int, i2::Int, I::Int...) where {T}
     @inline
     @boundscheck (i2 == 1 && all(==(1), I)) || throw_boundserror(A, (i1, i2, I...))
diff --git a/base/tuple.jl b/base/tuple.jl
index 339aafac171b19..c2e0a478cca48f 100644
--- a/base/tuple.jl
+++ b/base/tuple.jl
@@ -28,8 +28,8 @@ firstindex(@nospecialize t::Tuple) = 1
 lastindex(@nospecialize t::Tuple) = length(t)
 size(@nospecialize(t::Tuple), d::Integer) = (d == 1) ? length(t) : throw(ArgumentError("invalid tuple dimension $d"))
 axes(@nospecialize t::Tuple) = (OneTo(length(t)),)
-@eval getindex(@nospecialize(t::Tuple), i::Int) = getfield(t, i, $(Expr(:boundscheck)))
-@eval getindex(@nospecialize(t::Tuple), i::Integer) = getfield(t, convert(Int, i), $(Expr(:boundscheck)))
+getindex(@nospecialize(t::Tuple), i::Int) = getfield(t, i, @_boundscheck)
+getindex(@nospecialize(t::Tuple), i::Integer) = getfield(t, convert(Int, i), @_boundscheck)
 __inbounds_getindex(@nospecialize(t::Tuple), i::Int) = getfield(t, i, false)
 __inbounds_getindex(@nospecialize(t::Tuple), i::Integer) = getfield(t, convert(Int, i), false)
 getindex(t::Tuple, r::AbstractArray{<:Any,1}) = (eltype(t)[t[ri] for ri in r]...,)