diff --git a/pymemcache/client/base.py b/pymemcache/client/base.py
index 4db03b81..a0816cf0 100644
--- a/pymemcache/client/base.py
+++ b/pymemcache/client/base.py
@@ -1039,6 +1039,9 @@ class PooledClient(object):
       max_pool_size: maximum pool size to use (going above this amount
                      triggers a runtime error), by default this is 2147483648L
                      when not provided (or none).
+      pool_idle_timeout: pooled connections are discarded if they have been
+                         unused for this many seconds. A value of 0 indicates
+                         that pooled connections are never discarded.
       lock_generator: a callback/type that takes no arguments that will
                       be called to create a lock or semaphore that can
                       protect the pool from concurrent access (for example a
@@ -1065,6 +1068,7 @@ def __init__(self,
                  socket_module=socket,
                  key_prefix=b'',
                  max_pool_size=None,
+                 pool_idle_timeout=0,
                  lock_generator=None,
                  default_noreply=True,
                  allow_unicode_keys=False,
@@ -1088,6 +1092,7 @@ def __init__(self,
             self._create_client,
             after_remove=lambda client: client.close(),
             max_size=max_pool_size,
+            idle_timeout=pool_idle_timeout,
             lock_generator=lock_generator)
         self.encoding = encoding
         self.tls_context = tls_context
diff --git a/pymemcache/client/hash.py b/pymemcache/client/hash.py
index c2adb893..09b1e575 100644
--- a/pymemcache/client/hash.py
+++ b/pymemcache/client/hash.py
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ def __init__(
         socket_module=socket,
         key_prefix=b'',
         max_pool_size=None,
+        pool_idle_timeout=0,
         lock_generator=None,
         retry_attempts=2,
         retry_timeout=1,
@@ -104,6 +105,7 @@ def __init__(
         if use_pooling is True:
             self.default_kwargs.update({
                 'max_pool_size': max_pool_size,
+                'pool_idle_timeout': pool_idle_timeout,
                 'lock_generator': lock_generator
             })
 
diff --git a/pymemcache/pool.py b/pymemcache/pool.py
index f800f90c..ddb8825e 100644
--- a/pymemcache/pool.py
+++ b/pymemcache/pool.py
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 import contextlib
 import sys
 import threading
+import time
 
 import six
 
@@ -25,6 +26,7 @@ class ObjectPool(object):
 
     def __init__(self, obj_creator,
                  after_remove=None, max_size=None,
+                 idle_timeout=0,
                  lock_generator=None):
         self._used_objs = collections.deque()
         self._free_objs = collections.deque()
@@ -38,6 +40,8 @@ def __init__(self, obj_creator,
         if not isinstance(max_size, six.integer_types) or max_size < 0:
             raise ValueError('"max_size" must be a positive integer')
         self.max_size = max_size
+        self.idle_timeout = idle_timeout
+        self._idle_clock = time.time if idle_timeout else int
 
     @property
     def used(self):
@@ -63,19 +67,27 @@ def get_and_release(self, destroy_on_fail=False):
 
     def get(self):
         with self._lock:
-            if not self._free_objs:
+            # Find a free object, removing any that have idled for too long.
+            now = self._idle_clock()
+            while self._free_objs:
+                obj = self._free_objs.popleft()
+                if now - obj._last_used <= self.idle_timeout:
+                    break
+
+                if self._after_remove is not None:
+                    self._after_remove(obj)
+            else:
+                # No free objects, create a new one.
                 curr_count = len(self._used_objs)
                 if curr_count >= self.max_size:
                     raise RuntimeError("Too many objects,"
                                        " %s >= %s" % (curr_count,
                                                       self.max_size))
                 obj = self._obj_creator()
-                self._used_objs.append(obj)
-                return obj
-            else:
-                obj = self._free_objs.pop()
-                self._used_objs.append(obj)
-                return obj
+
+            self._used_objs.append(obj)
+            obj._last_used = now
+            return obj
 
     def destroy(self, obj, silent=True):
         was_dropped = False
@@ -94,6 +106,7 @@ def release(self, obj, silent=True):
             try:
                 self._used_objs.remove(obj)
                 self._free_objs.append(obj)
+                obj._last_used = self._idle_clock()
             except ValueError:
                 if not silent:
                     raise
diff --git a/pymemcache/test/test_client.py b/pymemcache/test/test_client.py
index bdaf233a..24ecab21 100644
--- a/pymemcache/test/test_client.py
+++ b/pymemcache/test/test_client.py
@@ -1255,6 +1255,38 @@ class MyClient(Client):
         assert isinstance(client.client_pool.get(), MyClient)
 
 
+class TestPooledClientIdleTimeout(ClientTestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
+    def make_client(self, mock_socket_values, **kwargs):
+        mock_client = Client(None, **kwargs)
+        mock_client.sock = MockSocket(list(mock_socket_values))
+        client = PooledClient(None, pool_idle_timeout=60, **kwargs)
+        client.client_pool = pool.ObjectPool(lambda: mock_client)
+        return client
+
+    def test_free_idle(self):
+        class Counter(object):
+            count = 0
+
+            def increment(self, obj):
+                self.count += 1
+
+        removed = Counter()
+
+        client = self.make_client([b'VALUE key 0 5\r\nvalue\r\nEND\r\n']*2)
+        client.client_pool._after_remove = removed.increment
+        client.client_pool._idle_clock = lambda: 0
+
+        client.set(b'key', b'value')
+        assert removed.count == 0
+        client.get(b'key')
+        assert removed.count == 0
+
+        # Advance clock to beyond the idle timeout.
+        client.client_pool._idle_clock = lambda: 61
+        client.get(b'key')
+        assert removed.count == 1
+
+
 class TestMockClient(ClientTestMixin, unittest.TestCase):
     def make_client(self, mock_socket_values, **kwargs):
         client = MockMemcacheClient(None, **kwargs)