diff --git a/okhttp-tests/src/test/java/com/squareup/okhttp/internal/http/URLConnectionTest.java b/okhttp-tests/src/test/java/com/squareup/okhttp/internal/http/URLConnectionTest.java
index 1cb3d29f6..abb65bbde 100644
--- a/okhttp-tests/src/test/java/com/squareup/okhttp/internal/http/URLConnectionTest.java
+++ b/okhttp-tests/src/test/java/com/squareup/okhttp/internal/http/URLConnectionTest.java
@@ -1340,6 +1340,7 @@ public final class URLConnectionTest {
     assertValidRequestMethod("POST");
     assertValidRequestMethod("PUT");
     assertValidRequestMethod("TRACE");
+    assertValidRequestMethod("PATCH");
   }
 
   private void assertValidRequestMethod(String requestMethod) throws Exception {
diff --git a/okhttp/src/main/java/com/squareup/okhttp/HttpResponseCache.java b/okhttp/src/main/java/com/squareup/okhttp/HttpResponseCache.java
index 8556e190e..ad0a22917 100644
--- a/okhttp/src/main/java/com/squareup/okhttp/HttpResponseCache.java
+++ b/okhttp/src/main/java/com/squareup/okhttp/HttpResponseCache.java
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ package com.squareup.okhttp;
 
 import com.squareup.okhttp.internal.DiskLruCache;
 import com.squareup.okhttp.internal.Util;
+import com.squareup.okhttp.internal.http.HttpMethod;
 import java.io.BufferedWriter;
 import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream;
 import java.io.File;
@@ -195,8 +196,7 @@ public final class HttpResponseCache extends ResponseCache implements OkResponse
   }
 
   @Override public boolean maybeRemove(Request request) {
-    String method = request.method();
-    if (method.equals("POST") || method.equals("PUT") || method.equals("DELETE")) {
+    if (HttpMethod.invalidatesCache(request.method())) {
       try {
         cache.remove(urlToKey(request));
       } catch (IOException ignored) {
diff --git a/okhttp/src/main/java/com/squareup/okhttp/internal/http/HttpEngine.java b/okhttp/src/main/java/com/squareup/okhttp/internal/http/HttpEngine.java
index d683d6b27..1df047cf5 100644
--- a/okhttp/src/main/java/com/squareup/okhttp/internal/http/HttpEngine.java
+++ b/okhttp/src/main/java/com/squareup/okhttp/internal/http/HttpEngine.java
@@ -254,8 +254,7 @@ public class HttpEngine {
   }
 
   boolean hasRequestBody() {
-    String method = request.method();
-    return method.equals("POST") || method.equals("PUT") || method.equals("PATCH");
+    return HttpMethod.hasRequestBody(request.method());
   }
 
   /** Returns the request body or null if this request doesn't have a body. */
diff --git a/okhttp/src/main/java/com/squareup/okhttp/internal/http/HttpMethod.java b/okhttp/src/main/java/com/squareup/okhttp/internal/http/HttpMethod.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ab4635a34
--- /dev/null
+++ b/okhttp/src/main/java/com/squareup/okhttp/internal/http/HttpMethod.java
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2014 Square, Inc.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package com.squareup.okhttp.internal.http;
+
+import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.LinkedHashSet;
+import java.util.Set;
+
+public final class HttpMethod {
+  public static final Set<String> METHODS = new LinkedHashSet<String>(Arrays.asList(
+      "OPTIONS", "GET", "HEAD", "POST", "PUT", "DELETE", "TRACE", "PATCH"));
+
+  public static boolean invalidatesCache(String method) {
+    return method.equals("POST")
+        || method.equals("PATCH")
+        || method.equals("PUT")
+        || method.equals("DELETE");
+  }
+
+  public static boolean hasRequestBody(String method) {
+    return method.equals("POST")
+        || method.equals("PUT")
+        || method.equals("PATCH");
+  }
+
+  private HttpMethod() {
+  }
+}
diff --git a/okhttp/src/main/java/com/squareup/okhttp/internal/http/HttpURLConnectionImpl.java b/okhttp/src/main/java/com/squareup/okhttp/internal/http/HttpURLConnectionImpl.java
index b51bbc6c6..da876cac4 100644
--- a/okhttp/src/main/java/com/squareup/okhttp/internal/http/HttpURLConnectionImpl.java
+++ b/okhttp/src/main/java/com/squareup/okhttp/internal/http/HttpURLConnectionImpl.java
@@ -265,7 +265,7 @@ public class HttpURLConnectionImpl extends HttpURLConnection {
         if (method.equals("GET")) {
           // they are requesting a stream to write to. This implies a POST method
           method = "POST";
-        } else if (!method.equals("POST") && !method.equals("PUT") && !method.equals("PATCH")) {
+        } else if (!HttpMethod.hasRequestBody(method)) {
           // If the request method is neither POST nor PUT nor PATCH, then you're not writing
           throw new ProtocolException(method + " does not support writing");
         }
@@ -570,6 +570,14 @@ public class HttpURLConnectionImpl extends HttpURLConnection {
     client.setProtocols(protocolsList);
   }
 
+  @Override public void setRequestMethod(String method) throws ProtocolException {
+    if (!HttpMethod.METHODS.contains(method)) {
+      throw new ProtocolException(
+          "Expected one of " + HttpMethod.METHODS + " but was " + method);
+    }
+    this.method = method;
+  }
+
   @Override public void setFixedLengthStreamingMode(int contentLength) {
     setFixedLengthStreamingMode((long) contentLength);
   }