diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/pylab.py b/lib/matplotlib/pylab.py
index ebd65655bbed..62fced0f7bcc 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/pylab.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/pylab.py
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@
 # "from numpy.random import *" above
 bytes = __import__("builtins").bytes
 # We also don't want the numpy version of these functions
+abs = __import__("builtins").abs
 max = __import__("builtins").max
 min = __import__("builtins").min
 round = __import__("builtins").round