diff --git a/src/ajax.js b/src/ajax.js
index d8450e1c3e..d2b40d338e 100644
--- a/src/ajax.js
+++ b/src/ajax.js
@@ -798,13 +798,14 @@ jQuery.each( [ "get", "post" ], function( i, method ) {
 			data = undefined;
 		}
 
-		return jQuery.ajax({
+		// The url can be an options object (which then must have .url)
+		return jQuery.ajax( jQuery.extend({
 			url: url,
 			type: method,
 			dataType: type,
 			data: data,
 			success: callback
-		});
+		}, jQuery.isPlainObject( url ) && url ) );
 	};
 });
 
diff --git a/test/unit/ajax.js b/test/unit/ajax.js
index 35db616997..89161a9284 100644
--- a/test/unit/ajax.js
+++ b/test/unit/ajax.js
@@ -2050,6 +2050,26 @@ module( "ajax", {
 		});
 	});
 
+	asyncTest( "jQuery[get|post]( options ) - simple with xml", 2, function() {
+		jQuery.when.apply( jQuery,
+			jQuery.map( [ "get", "post" ] , function( method ) {
+				return jQuery[ method ]({
+					url: url( "data/name.php" ),
+					data: {
+						"xml": "5-2"
+					},
+					success: function( xml ) {
+						jQuery( "math", xml ).each(function() {
+							strictEqual( jQuery( "result", this ).text(), "3", "Check for XML" );
+						});
+					}
+				});
+			})
+		).always(function() {
+			start();
+		});
+	});
+
 //----------- jQuery.active
 
 	test( "jQuery.active", 1, function() {