diff --git a/History.txt b/History.txt
index 2b338d4..0e07a0f 100644
--- a/History.txt
+++ b/History.txt
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
   
 * Bug fixes
 
+  * rescue from Webrat::TimeoutError in selenium matchers which allows NegativeMatchers to behave correctly (Noah Davis)
   * Switch to using selenium.click instead of .check when checking a checkbox
     (Noah Davis)
   * Create tmp/pids directory if directory does not exist. (Amos King and Mike Gaffney)  
diff --git a/lib/webrat/selenium/matchers/have_content.rb b/lib/webrat/selenium/matchers/have_content.rb
index 5fa84f6..471493d 100644
--- a/lib/webrat/selenium/matchers/have_content.rb
+++ b/lib/webrat/selenium/matchers/have_content.rb
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ module Webrat
           response.session.wait_for do
             response.selenium.is_text_present(text_finder)
           end
+          rescue Webrat::TimeoutError
+            false
         end
 
         # ==== Returns
diff --git a/lib/webrat/selenium/matchers/have_selector.rb b/lib/webrat/selenium/matchers/have_selector.rb
index f7b394c..884dfdf 100644
--- a/lib/webrat/selenium/matchers/have_selector.rb
+++ b/lib/webrat/selenium/matchers/have_selector.rb
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ module Webrat
           response.session.wait_for do
             response.selenium.is_element_present("css=#{@expected}")
           end
+          rescue Webrat::TimeoutError
+            false
         end
 
         # ==== Returns
diff --git a/lib/webrat/selenium/matchers/have_xpath.rb b/lib/webrat/selenium/matchers/have_xpath.rb
index 40cf9b8..3498a9a 100644
--- a/lib/webrat/selenium/matchers/have_xpath.rb
+++ b/lib/webrat/selenium/matchers/have_xpath.rb
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ module Webrat
           response.session.wait_for do
             response.selenium.is_element_present("xpath=#{@expected}")
           end
+          rescue Webrat::TimeoutError
+            false
         end
 
         # ==== Returns