diff --git a/src/engine/lists.c b/src/engine/lists.c
index 7e3b4a3f0..3f2309b05 100644
--- a/src/engine/lists.c
+++ b/src/engine/lists.c
@@ -13,10 +13,7 @@
 
 #include <assert.h>
 
-
-struct freelist_node { struct freelist_node * next; };
-
-static struct freelist_node * freelist[ 32 ];  /* junkpile for list_dealloc() */
+static LIST * freelist[ 32 ];  /* junkpile for list_dealloc() */
 
 static unsigned get_bucket( unsigned size )
 {
@@ -30,9 +27,9 @@ static LIST * list_alloc( unsigned const size )
     unsigned const bucket = get_bucket( size );
     if ( freelist[ bucket ] )
     {
-        struct freelist_node * result = freelist[ bucket ];
-        freelist[ bucket ] = result->next;
-        return (LIST *)result;
+        LIST * result = freelist[ bucket ];
+        freelist[ bucket ] = result->impl.next;
+        return result;
     }
     return (LIST *)BJAM_MALLOC( sizeof( LIST ) + ( 1u << bucket ) *
         sizeof( OBJECT * ) );
@@ -42,7 +39,7 @@ static void list_dealloc( LIST * l )
 {
     unsigned size = list_length( l );
     unsigned bucket;
-    struct freelist_node * node = (struct freelist_node *)l;
+    LIST * node = l;
 
     if ( size == 0 ) return;
 
@@ -51,7 +48,7 @@ static void list_dealloc( LIST * l )
 #ifdef BJAM_NO_MEM_CACHE
     BJAM_FREE( node );
 #else
-    node->next = freelist[ bucket ];
+    node->impl.next = freelist[ bucket ];
     freelist[ bucket ] = node;
 #endif
 }
@@ -372,11 +369,11 @@ void list_done()
     int i;
     for ( i = 0; i < sizeof( freelist ) / sizeof( freelist[ 0 ] ); ++i )
     {
-        struct freelist_node * l = freelist[ i ];
+        LIST * l = freelist[ i ];
         while ( l )
         {
-            struct freelist_node * const tmp = l;
-            l = l->next;
+            LIST * const tmp = l;
+            l = l->impl.next;
             BJAM_FREE( tmp );
         }
     }
diff --git a/src/engine/lists.h b/src/engine/lists.h
index 0b958303d..3dd8fe873 100644
--- a/src/engine/lists.h
+++ b/src/engine/lists.h
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@
 typedef struct _list {
     union {
         int size;
+        struct _list * next;
         OBJECT * align;
     } impl;
 } LIST;