diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 3281c84..b82166b 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -77,6 +77,12 @@ If you'd like to pass form-encoded data, set your body like this:
 
 You can also send files using absolute path to file: `!file(PATH_TO_FILE)` or by simply providing it's content: `!content(my file content)`.
 
+To set timeout for the requests (in seconds) at global level or inidvidual request level use the variable TIMEOUT_S set to an integer value.
+```
+# $TIMEOUT_S = 30 (sets 30seconds timeout for all requests)
+# :TIMEOUT_S = 30 (sets 30seconds timeout on individual blocks)
+```
+
 Example:
 ```
 POST http://httpbin.org/post
diff --git a/doc/http-client.txt b/doc/http-client.txt
index 520afde..9c234a7 100644
--- a/doc/http-client.txt
+++ b/doc/http-client.txt
@@ -83,6 +83,13 @@ If you'd like to pass form-encoded data, set your body like this: >
 
 See `examples/examples.txt` for more examples.
 
+Use the variable TIMEOUT_S either as global or local variable to get a timeout
+if there's no response from the server or the connection can't be made to the
+server for the given number of seconds. The timeout value should be an integer.
+
+Set value as # $TIMEOUT_S=30 to get a global timeout of 30 seconds for all
+requests and # :TIMEOUT_S=30 in a block to set timeout on a individual request.
+
 The output appears in a new split. Syntax highlighting is interpreted from the
 Content-Type header of the result. It currently supports XML, JSON, and HTML;
 all others will get ft=text.
diff --git a/plugin/http_client.py b/plugin/http_client.py
index 6c152e0..274ebc0 100644
--- a/plugin/http_client.py
+++ b/plugin/http_client.py
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@
 GLOBAL_VAR_REGEX = re.compile('^# ?(\$[^$ ]+)\\s*=\\s*(.+)$')
 FILE_REGEX = re.compile("!((?:file)|(?:(?:content)))\((.+)\)")
 JSON_REGEX = re.compile("(javascript|json)$", re.IGNORECASE)
+GLOBAL_TIMEOUT_REGEX = re.compile(r"^#\s*\$TIMEOUT_S\s*=\s*(\d+)")
+TIMEOUT_REGEX = re.compile(r"^#\s*:TIMEOUT_S\s*=\s*(\d+)")
 
 verify_ssl = vim.eval('g:http_client_verify_ssl') == '1'
 
@@ -32,10 +34,23 @@ def is_comment(s):
     return s.startswith('#')
 
 
+def get_timeout(buffer, regex):
+    timeout = None
+    for line in buffer:
+        match = regex.match(line)
+        if match:
+            timeout = int(match.groups()[0])
+    return timeout
+
+
 def do_request(block, buf):
     variables = dict((m.groups() for m in (GLOBAL_VAR_REGEX.match(l) for l in buf) if m))
     variables.update(dict((m.groups() for m in (VAR_REGEX.match(l) for l in block) if m)))
 
+    global_timeout = get_timeout(buf, GLOBAL_TIMEOUT_REGEX)
+    local_timeout = get_timeout(block, TIMEOUT_REGEX)
+    timeout = local_timeout if local_timeout is not None else global_timeout
+
     block = [line for line in block if not is_comment(line) and line.strip() != '']
 
     if len(block) == 0:
@@ -87,7 +102,8 @@ def to_file(expr):
         json_data = json.loads(data)
         data = None
 
-    response = requests.request(method, url, verify=verify_ssl, headers=headers, data=data, files=files, json=json_data)
+    response = requests.request(method, url, verify=verify_ssl, headers=headers,
+            data=data, files=files, json=json_data, timeout=timeout)
     content_type = response.headers.get('Content-Type', '').split(';')[0]
 
     response_body = response.text