diff --git a/lib/rdoc/markup/to_html.rb b/lib/rdoc/markup/to_html.rb
index 3bf66c2c31ac62..aa5de7bf6624ba 100644
--- a/lib/rdoc/markup/to_html.rb
+++ b/lib/rdoc/markup/to_html.rb
@@ -383,9 +383,12 @@ def list_end_for(list_type)
   # Returns true if text is valid ruby syntax
 
   def parseable? text
+    verbose, $VERBOSE = $VERBOSE, nil
     eval("BEGIN {return true}\n#{text}")
   rescue SyntaxError
     false
+  ensure
+    $VERBOSE = verbose
   end
 
   ##