diff --git a/src/main/tock/compiler/bind.cljc b/src/main/tock/compiler/bind.cljc
index d661b0e..2a31b5c 100644
--- a/src/main/tock/compiler/bind.cljc
+++ b/src/main/tock/compiler/bind.cljc
@@ -9,13 +9,14 @@
         ctx (if scope (new-scope ctx scope) ctx)
         new-bindings (:new-bindings special)
         bindings (if new-bindings (new-bindings form ctx) {})
-        new-form (m/rewrite form
-                            ('l/lookup ?m) ('l/lookup {:ctx ~ctx & ?m})
-                            (m/and ?form ~new-bindings) (m+ {:bindings ~bindings} ?form)
-                            ?form ?form)]
+        marker (or (:mark-bound-subexpressions special) identity)
+        form (marker form)
+        form (if new-bindings (merge-metafield form {:bindings bindings}) form)
+        add-ctx? (or (= (first form) 'l/lookup) (:binding (second form)) new-bindings)
+        form (if add-ctx? (merge-metafield form {:ctx ctx}) form)]
     (doseq [[symbol binding] bindings]
       (bind! ctx symbol binding))
-    ((all-subexpressions (partial decorate-ctx specials ctx)) new-form)))
+    ((all-subexpressions (partial decorate-ctx specials ctx)) form)))
 
 (def perform-lookups
   (bottom-up
diff --git a/src/main/tock/compiler/specials.cljc b/src/main/tock/compiler/specials.cljc
index 584214e..2b6a238 100644
--- a/src/main/tock/compiler/specials.cljc
+++ b/src/main/tock/compiler/specials.cljc
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 (ns tock.compiler.specials
   (:require [meander.epsilon :as m]
             [meander.strategy.epsilon :as r]
-            [tock.compiler.meander :refer [parse-type to-sym label] :include-macros true]
+            [tock.compiler.meander :refer [parse-type to-sym label m+] :include-macros true]
             [tock.compiler.util :refer [get-meta]]))
 
 ;; no namespace - source symbol
@@ -84,8 +84,11 @@
          :typecheck (comparitor-typecheck logical-type?)}
    'or {:desugar (left-binop-desugar 'or)
         :typecheck (comparitor-typecheck logical-type?)}
-   'def {:typecheck (r/rewrite (_ ?t) [[?t ?t]])
-         :new-bindings (fn [form _ctx] (m/match form ('def {:name ?symbol} ?expr) {?symbol (list 'l/global {:name ?symbol})}))}
+   'def {:desugar (r/rewrite
+                   ('def (m/pred symbol? ?name) ?expr) ('def {:name ?name} ?expr))
+         :typecheck (r/rewrite (_ ?t) [[?t ?t]])
+         :new-bindings (fn [form _ctx] (m/match form ('def {:name ?symbol} ?expr) {?symbol (list 'l/global {:name ?symbol})}))
+         :mark-bound-subexpressions (r/rewrite ('def (m/and ?m {:name ?symbol}) ?expr) ('def ?m (m+ {:binding ?symbol} ?expr)))}
    'do {:typecheck (r/rewrite (_) [['void]]
                               (_ . !stmt ... ?last) [[?last . (m/app (constantly 'void) !stmt) ... ?last]])
         :scope {}}
diff --git a/src/main/tock/compiler/type.cljc b/src/main/tock/compiler/type.cljc
index 904fe9e..4b1171a 100644
--- a/src/main/tock/compiler/type.cljc
+++ b/src/main/tock/compiler/type.cljc
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 (ns tock.compiler.type
   (:require [meander.epsilon :as m]
             [meander.strategy.epsilon :as r]
-            [tock.compiler.meander :refer [bottom-up m+] :include-macros true]
+            [tock.compiler.meander :refer [bottom-up m+ merge-metafield] :include-macros true]
             [tock.compiler.util :refer [lookup get-meta get-special lookup update-binding!]]))
 
 ; typechecking happens bottom-up. by the time a node is called to be typechecked, the system has verified that all of the children
@@ -45,8 +45,8 @@
     
     ; propogate type back to binding
     (m/match rewrite
-      (m+ {:ctx ?ctx :name ?name :type ?type} _)
-      (update-binding! ?ctx ?name assoc :type ?type)
+      (_ {:ctx (m/some ?ctx) :binding (m/some ?name) :type (m/some ?type)} . _ ...)
+      (update-binding! ?ctx ?name merge-metafield {:type ?type})
 
       _ nil)