diff --git a/c/containers/mlr_dsl_ast.c b/c/containers/mlr_dsl_ast.c
index d9e2dcbe6..c7aeec3b0 100644
--- a/c/containers/mlr_dsl_ast.c
+++ b/c/containers/mlr_dsl_ast.c
@@ -146,6 +146,7 @@ char* mlr_dsl_ast_node_describe_type(mlr_dsl_ast_node_type_t type) {
 	switch(type) {
 	case MD_AST_NODE_TYPE_STATEMENT_LIST:                   return "statement_list";                   break;
 	case MD_AST_NODE_TYPE_DEF:                              return "def";                              break;
+	case MD_AST_NODE_TYPE_LOCAL:                            return "local";                            break;
 	case MD_AST_NODE_TYPE_RETURN:                           return "return";                           break;
 	case MD_AST_NODE_TYPE_BEGIN:                            return "begin";                            break;
 	case MD_AST_NODE_TYPE_END:                              return "end";                              break;
diff --git a/c/containers/mlr_dsl_ast.h b/c/containers/mlr_dsl_ast.h
index b0b69035f..eeebad29b 100644
--- a/c/containers/mlr_dsl_ast.h
+++ b/c/containers/mlr_dsl_ast.h
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 typedef enum _mlr_dsl_ast_node_type_t {
 	MD_AST_NODE_TYPE_STATEMENT_LIST,
 	MD_AST_NODE_TYPE_DEF,
+	MD_AST_NODE_TYPE_LOCAL,
 	MD_AST_NODE_TYPE_RETURN,
 	MD_AST_NODE_TYPE_BEGIN,
 	MD_AST_NODE_TYPE_END,
diff --git a/c/dsls/mlr_dsl_lexer.l b/c/dsls/mlr_dsl_lexer.l
index 0572feaa7..60f51926d 100644
--- a/c/dsls/mlr_dsl_lexer.l
+++ b/c/dsls/mlr_dsl_lexer.l
@@ -93,6 +93,10 @@
 	*yyextra = mlr_dsl_ast_node_alloc(yytext, MD_AST_NODE_TYPE_STRIPPED_AWAY);
 	return MD_TOKEN_DEF;
 }
+"local" {
+	*yyextra = mlr_dsl_ast_node_alloc(yytext, MD_AST_NODE_TYPE_STRIPPED_AWAY);
+	return MD_TOKEN_LOCAL;
+}
 "return" {
 	*yyextra = mlr_dsl_ast_node_alloc(yytext, MD_AST_NODE_TYPE_STRIPPED_AWAY);
 	return MD_TOKEN_RETURN;
diff --git a/c/dsls/mlr_dsl_parse.y b/c/dsls/mlr_dsl_parse.y
index 764b60a7a..f4ba55d52 100644
--- a/c/dsls/mlr_dsl_parse.y
+++ b/c/dsls/mlr_dsl_parse.y
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 // * begin{end{}} -- begin/end not at top level
 // * begin{$x=1} -- references to stream records at begin/end
 // * break/continue outside of for/while/do-while
+// * return outside of a function definition
 // * $x=x -- boundvars outside of for-loop variable bindings
 // All of the above are enforced by the CST builder, which takes this parser's output AST as input.
 // This is done (a) to keep this grammar from being overly complex, and (b) so we can get much more
@@ -109,6 +110,9 @@ md_statement_not_braced_end(A) ::= . {
 }
 
 // Only valid in def blocks
+md_statement_not_braced_end(A) ::= MD_TOKEN_LOCAL MD_TOKEN_NON_SIGIL_NAME(N) MD_TOKEN_ASSIGN md_rhs(B). {
+	A = mlr_dsl_ast_node_alloc_binary("local", MD_AST_NODE_TYPE_RETURN, N, B);
+}
 md_statement_not_braced_end(A) ::= MD_TOKEN_RETURN md_rhs(B). {
 	A = mlr_dsl_ast_node_alloc_unary("return", MD_AST_NODE_TYPE_RETURN, B);
 }