diff --git a/lib/Mojo/DOM/HTML.pm b/lib/Mojo/DOM/HTML.pm
index eb4f99272a..cc088fd387 100644
--- a/lib/Mojo/DOM/HTML.pm
+++ b/lib/Mojo/DOM/HTML.pm
@@ -56,8 +56,6 @@ my %RCDATA = map { $_ => 1 } qw(title textarea);
 # HTML elements with optional end tags
 my %END = (
   body => ['head'],
-  dd   => [qw(dt dd)],
-  dt   => [qw(dt dd)],
   rp   => [qw(rt rp)],
   rt   => [qw(rt rp)]
 );
@@ -275,6 +273,11 @@ sub _start {
   if (!$xml && $$current->[0] ne 'root') {
     if (my $end = $END{$start}) { _end($_, 0, $current) for @$end }
 
+    # "dd" and "dt"
+    elsif ($start eq 'dd' || $start eq 'dt') {
+      _close($current, {dd => 1, dt => 1}, {dl => 1}) for qw(dd dt);
+    }
+
     # "li"
     elsif ($start eq 'li') { _close($current, {li => 1}, {ul => 1, ol => 1}) }
 
@@ -288,7 +291,7 @@ sub _start {
 
     # "th" and "td"
     elsif ($start eq 'th' || $start eq 'td') {
-      _close($current, {$_ => 1}, {table => 1}) for qw(th td);
+      _close($current, {th => 1, td => 1}, {table => 1});
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/t/mojo/dom.t b/t/mojo/dom.t
index 3a18141ffd..edc37b68cb 100644
--- a/t/mojo/dom.t
+++ b/t/mojo/dom.t
@@ -1311,6 +1311,22 @@ is $dom->find('dl > dd')->[1]->text, 'D', 'right text';
 is $dom->find('dl > dt')->[2]->text, 'E', 'right text';
 is $dom->find('dl > dd')->[2]->text, 'F', 'right text';
 
+# but different levels don't self-terminate to allow for nesting
+$dom = Mojo::DOM->new->parse(<<EOF);
+<dl>
+  <dt>A</dt>
+  <DD>
+    <dl>
+      <dt>B</dt>
+      <dd>C</dd>
+    </dl>
+  </dd>
+</dl>
+EOF
+is $dom->find('dl > dd > dl > dt')->[0]->text, 'B', 'right text';
+is $dom->find('dl > dd > dl > dd')->[0]->text, 'C', 'right text';
+is $dom->find('dl > dt')->[0]->text,           'A', 'right text';
+
 # Optional "rp" and "rt" tags
 $dom = Mojo::DOM->new->parse(<<EOF);
 <ruby>