diff --git a/top/top.c b/top/top.c
index ea3d9e0c..a1fad9fc 100644
--- a/top/top.c
+++ b/top/top.c
@@ -884,7 +884,11 @@ static inline int ioa (struct timespec *ts) {
    FD_ZERO(&fs);
    FD_SET(STDIN_FILENO, &fs);
 
+#ifdef OFF_SIGWINCH // conditional comments are silly, but help in documenting
+   // hold here until we've got keyboard input, any signal (including SIGWINCH)
+#else
    // hold here until we've got keyboard input, any signal except SIGWINCH
+#endif
    // or (optionally) we timeout with nanosecond granularity
    rc = pselect(STDIN_FILENO + 1, &fs, NULL, NULL, ts, &Sigwinch_set);
 
@@ -3741,7 +3745,9 @@ static void wins_stage_2 (void) {
 
    // lastly, initialize a signal set used to throttle one troublesome signal
    sigemptyset(&Sigwinch_set);
+#ifndef OFF_SIGWINCH
    sigaddset(&Sigwinch_set, SIGWINCH);
+#endif
 } // end: wins_stage_2
 
 /*######  Interactive Input support (do_key helpers)  ####################*/
diff --git a/top/top.h b/top/top.h
index f2dcaf10..c19808c1 100644
--- a/top/top.h
+++ b/top/top.h
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@
 //#define NOBOOST_MEMS            /* disable extra precision for mem fields  */
 //#define NOBOOST_PCNT            /* disable extra precision for % fields    */
 //#define OFF_HST_HASH            /* use BOTH qsort+bsrch vs. hashing scheme */
+//#define OFF_SIGWINCH            /* favor response over reduced signal load */
 //#define OFF_STDIOLBF            /* disable our own stdout _IOFBF override  */
 //#define PRETEND2_5_X            /* pretend we're linux 2.5.x (for IO-wait) */
 //#define PRETEND4CPUS            /* pretend we're smp with 4 ticsers (sic)  */