diff --git a/src/backend/utils/mmgr/slab.c b/src/backend/utils/mmgr/slab.c
index c2f9bb6ad3..c366febdcc 100644
--- a/src/backend/utils/mmgr/slab.c
+++ b/src/backend/utils/mmgr/slab.c
@@ -4,7 +4,8 @@
  *	  SLAB allocator definitions.
  *
  * SLAB is a MemoryContext implementation designed for cases where large
- * numbers of equally-sized objects are allocated (and freed).
+ * numbers of equally-sized objects can be allocated and freed efficiently
+ * with minimal memory wastage and fragmentation.
  *
  *
  * Portions Copyright (c) 2017-2022, PostgreSQL Global Development Group
@@ -16,36 +17,51 @@
  * NOTE:
  *	The constant allocation size allows significant simplification and various
  *	optimizations over more general purpose allocators. The blocks are carved
- *	into chunks of exactly the right size (plus alignment), not wasting any
- *	memory.
+ *	into chunks of exactly the right size, wasting only the space required to
+ *	MAXALIGN the allocated chunks.
  *
- *	The information about free chunks is maintained both at the block level and
- *	global (context) level. This is possible as the chunk size (and thus also
- *	the number of chunks per block) is fixed.
+ *	Slab can also help reduce memory fragmentation in cases where longer-lived
+ *	chunks remain stored on blocks while most of the other chunks have already
+ *	been pfree'd.  We give priority to putting new allocations into the
+ *	"fullest" block.  This help avoid having too many sparsely used blocks
+ *	around and allows blocks to more easily become completely unused which
+ *	allows them to be eventually free'd.
  *
- *	On each block, free chunks are tracked in a simple linked list. Contents
- *	of free chunks is replaced with an index of the next free chunk, forming
- *	a very simple linked list. Each block also contains a counter of free
- *	chunks. Combined with the local block-level freelist, it makes it trivial
- *	to eventually free the whole block.
+ *	We identify the "fullest" block to put new allocations on by using a block
+ *	from the lowest populated element of the context's "blocklist" array.
+ *	This is an array of dlists containing blocks which we partition by the
+ *	number of free chunks which block has.  Blocks with fewer free chunks are
+ *	stored in a lower indexed dlist array slot.  Full blocks go on the 0th
+ *	element of the blocklist array.  So that we don't have to have too many
+ *	elements in the array, each dlist in the array is responsible for a range
+ *	of free chunks.  When a chunk is palloc'd or pfree'd we may need to move
+ *	the block onto another dlist if the number of free chunks crosses the
+ *	range boundary that the current list is responsible for.  Having just a
+ *	few blocklist elements reduces the number of times we must move the block
+ *	onto another dlist element.
  *
- *	At the context level, we use 'freelist' to track blocks ordered by number
- *	of free chunks, starting with blocks having a single allocated chunk, and
- *	with completely full blocks on the tail.
+ *	We keep track of free chunks within each block by using a block-level free
+ *	list.  We consult this list when we allocate a new chunk in the block.
+ *	The free list is a linked list, the head of which is pointed to with
+ *	SlabBlock's freehead field.  Each subsequent list item is stored in the
+ *	free chunk's memory.  We ensure chunks are large enough to store this
+ *	address.
  *
- *	This also allows various optimizations - for example when searching for
- *	free chunk, the allocator reuses space from the fullest blocks first, in
- *	the hope that some of the less full blocks will get completely empty (and
- *	returned back to the OS).
- *
- *	For each block, we maintain pointer to the first free chunk - this is quite
- *	cheap and allows us to skip all the preceding used chunks, eliminating
- *	a significant number of lookups in many common usage patterns. In the worst
- *	case this performs as if the pointer was not maintained.
- *
- *	We cache the freelist index for the blocks with the fewest free chunks
- *	(minFreeChunks), so that we don't have to search the freelist on every
- *	SlabAlloc() call, which is quite expensive.
+ *	When we allocate a new block, technically all chunks are free, however, to
+ *	avoid having to write out the entire block to set the linked list for the
+ *	free chunks for every chunk in the block, we instead store a pointer to
+ *	the next "unused" chunk on the block and keep track of how many of these
+ *	unused chunks there are.  When a new block is malloc'd, all chunks are
+ *	unused.  The unused pointer starts with the first chunk on the block and
+ *	as chunks are allocated, the unused pointer is incremented.  As chunks are
+ *	pfree'd, the unused pointer never goes backwards.  The unused pointer can
+ *	be thought of as a high watermark for the maximum number of chunks in the
+ *	block which have been in use concurrently.  When a chunk is pfree'd the
+ *	chunk is put onto the head of the free list and the unused pointer is not
+ *	changed.  We only consume more unused chunks if we run out of free chunks
+ *	on the free list.  This method effectively gives priority to using
+ *	previously used chunks over previously unused chunks, which should perform
+ *	better due to CPU caching effects.
  *
  *-------------------------------------------------------------------------
  */
@@ -60,6 +76,27 @@
 
 #define Slab_BLOCKHDRSZ	MAXALIGN(sizeof(SlabBlock))
 
+#ifdef MEMORY_CONTEXT_CHECKING
+/*
+ * Size of the memory required to store the SlabContext.
+ * MEMORY_CONTEXT_CHECKING builds need some extra memory for the isChunkFree
+ * array.
+ */
+#define Slab_CONTEXT_HDRSZ(chunksPerBlock)	\
+	(sizeof(SlabContext) + ((chunksPerBlock) * sizeof(bool)))
+#else
+#define Slab_CONTEXT_HDRSZ(chunksPerBlock)	sizeof(SlabContext)
+#endif
+
+/*
+ * The number of partitions to divide the blocklist into based their number of
+ * free chunks.  There must be at least 2.
+ */
+#define SLAB_BLOCKLIST_COUNT 3
+
+/* The maximum number of completely empty blocks to keep around for reuse. */
+#define SLAB_MAXIMUM_EMPTY_BLOCKS 10
+
 /*
  * SlabContext is a specialized implementation of MemoryContext.
  */
@@ -67,64 +104,206 @@ typedef struct SlabContext
 {
 	MemoryContextData header;	/* Standard memory-context fields */
 	/* Allocation parameters for this context: */
-	Size		chunkSize;		/* chunk size */
-	Size		fullChunkSize;	/* chunk size including header and alignment */
-	Size		blockSize;		/* block size */
-	Size		headerSize;		/* allocated size of context header */
-	int			chunksPerBlock; /* number of chunks per block */
-	int			minFreeChunks;	/* min number of free chunks in any block */
-	int			nblocks;		/* number of blocks allocated */
+	Size		chunkSize;		/* the requested (non-aligned) chunk size */
+	Size		fullChunkSize;	/* chunk size with chunk header and alignment */
+	Size		blockSize;		/* the size to make each block of chunks */
+	int32		chunksPerBlock; /* number of chunks that fit in 1 block */
+	int32		curBlocklistIndex;	/* index into the blocklist[] element
+									 * containing the fullest, blocks */
 #ifdef MEMORY_CONTEXT_CHECKING
-	bool	   *freechunks;		/* bitmap of free chunks in a block */
+	bool	   *isChunkFree;	/* array to mark free chunks in a block during
+								 * SlabCheck */
 #endif
-	/* blocks with free space, grouped by number of free chunks: */
-	dlist_head	freelist[FLEXIBLE_ARRAY_MEMBER];
+
+	int32		blocklist_shift;	/* number of bits to shift the nfree count
+									 * by to get the index into blocklist[] */
+	dclist_head emptyblocks;	/* empty blocks to use up first instead of
+								 * mallocing new blocks */
+
+	/*
+	 * Blocks with free space, grouped by the number of free chunks they
+	 * contain.  Completely full blocks are stored in the 0th element.
+	 * Completely empty blocks are stored in emptyblocks or free'd if we have
+	 * enough empty blocks already.
+	 */
+	dlist_head	blocklist[SLAB_BLOCKLIST_COUNT];
 } SlabContext;
 
 /*
  * SlabBlock
- *		Structure of a single block in SLAB allocator.
+ *		Structure of a single slab block.
  *
- * node: doubly-linked list of blocks in global freelist
- * nfree: number of free chunks in this block
- * firstFreeChunk: index of the first free chunk
+ * slab: pointer back to the owning MemoryContext
+ * nfree: number of chunks on the block which are unallocated
+ * nunused: number of chunks on the block unallocated and not on the block's
+ * freelist.
+ * freehead: linked-list header storing a pointer to the first free chunk on
+ * the block.  Subsequent pointers are stored in the chunk's memory.  NULL
+ * indicates the end of the list.
+ * unused: pointer to the next chunk which has yet to be used.
+ * node: doubly-linked list node for the context's blocklist
  */
 typedef struct SlabBlock
 {
-	dlist_node	node;			/* doubly-linked list */
-	int			nfree;			/* number of free chunks */
-	int			firstFreeChunk; /* index of the first free chunk in the block */
 	SlabContext *slab;			/* owning context */
+	int32		nfree;			/* number of chunks on free + unused chunks */
+	int32		nunused;		/* number of unused chunks */
+	MemoryChunk *freehead;		/* pointer to the first free chunk */
+	MemoryChunk *unused;		/* pointer to the next unused chunk */
+	dlist_node	node;			/* doubly-linked list for blocklist[] */
 } SlabBlock;
 
 
 #define Slab_CHUNKHDRSZ sizeof(MemoryChunk)
-#define SlabPointerGetChunk(ptr)	\
-	((MemoryChunk *)(((char *)(ptr)) - sizeof(MemoryChunk)))
 #define SlabChunkGetPointer(chk)	\
-	((void *)(((char *)(chk)) + sizeof(MemoryChunk)))
-#define SlabBlockGetChunk(slab, block, idx) \
+	((void *) (((char *) (chk)) + sizeof(MemoryChunk)))
+
+/*
+ * SlabBlockGetChunk
+ *		Obtain a pointer to the nth (0-based) chunk in the block
+ */
+#define SlabBlockGetChunk(slab, block, n) \
 	((MemoryChunk *) ((char *) (block) + Slab_BLOCKHDRSZ	\
-					+ (idx * slab->fullChunkSize)))
-#define SlabBlockStart(block)	\
-	((char *) block + Slab_BLOCKHDRSZ)
+					+ ((n) * (slab)->fullChunkSize)))
+
+#if defined(MEMORY_CONTEXT_CHECKING) || defined(USE_ASSERT_CHECKING)
+
+/*
+ * SlabChunkIndex
+ *		Get the 0-based index of how many chunks into the block the given
+ *		chunk is.
+*/
 #define SlabChunkIndex(slab, block, chunk)	\
-	(((char *) chunk - SlabBlockStart(block)) / slab->fullChunkSize)
+	(((char *) (chunk) - (char *) SlabBlockGetChunk(slab, block, 0)) / \
+	(slab)->fullChunkSize)
+
+/*
+ * SlabChunkMod
+ *		A MemoryChunk should always be at an address which is a multiple of
+ *		fullChunkSize starting from the 0th chunk position.  This will return
+ *		non-zero if it's not.
+ */
+#define SlabChunkMod(slab, block, chunk)	\
+	(((char *) (chunk) - (char *) SlabBlockGetChunk(slab, block, 0)) % \
+	(slab)->fullChunkSize)
+
+#endif
 
 /*
  * SlabIsValid
- *		True iff set is valid slab allocation set.
+ *		True iff set is a valid slab allocation set.
  */
-#define SlabIsValid(set) \
-	(PointerIsValid(set) && IsA(set, SlabContext))
+#define SlabIsValid(set) (PointerIsValid(set) && IsA(set, SlabContext))
 
 /*
  * SlabBlockIsValid
- *		True iff block is valid block of slab allocation set.
+ *		True iff block is a valid block of slab allocation set.
  */
 #define SlabBlockIsValid(block) \
 	(PointerIsValid(block) && SlabIsValid((block)->slab))
 
+/*
+ * SlabBlocklistIndex
+ *		Determine the blocklist index that a block should be in for the given
+ *		number of free chunks.
+ */
+static inline int32
+SlabBlocklistIndex(SlabContext *slab, int nfree)
+{
+	int32		index;
+	int32		blocklist_shift = slab->blocklist_shift;
+
+	Assert(nfree >= 0 && nfree <= slab->chunksPerBlock);
+
+	/*
+	 * Determine the blocklist index based on the number of free chunks.  We
+	 * must ensure that 0 free chunks is dedicated to index 0.  Everything
+	 * else must be >= 1 and < SLAB_BLOCKLIST_COUNT.
+	 *
+	 * To make this as efficient as possible, we exploit some two's complement
+	 * arithmetic where we reverse the sign before bit shifting.  This results
+	 * in an nfree of 0 using index 0 and anything non-zero staying non-zero.
+	 * This is exploiting 0 and -0 being the same in two's complement.  When
+	 * we're done, we just need to flip the sign back over again for a
+	 * positive index.
+	 */
+	index = -((-nfree) >> blocklist_shift);
+
+	if (nfree == 0)
+		Assert(index == 0);
+	else
+		Assert(index >= 1 && index < SLAB_BLOCKLIST_COUNT);
+
+	return index;
+}
+
+/*
+ * SlabFindNextBlockListIndex
+ *		Search blocklist for blocks which have free chunks and return the
+ *		index of the blocklist found containing at least 1 block with free
+ *		chunks.  If no block can be found we return 0.
+ *
+ * Note: We give priority to fuller blocks so that these are filled before
+ * emptier blocks.  This is done to increase the chances that mostly-empty
+ * blocks will eventually become completely empty so they can be free'd.
+ */
+static int32
+SlabFindNextBlockListIndex(SlabContext *slab)
+{
+	/* start at 1 as blocklist[0] is for full blocks. */
+	for (int i = 1; i < SLAB_BLOCKLIST_COUNT; i++)
+	{
+		/* return the first found non-empty index */
+		if (!dlist_is_empty(&slab->blocklist[i]))
+			return i;
+	}
+
+	/* no blocks with free space */
+	return 0;
+}
+
+/*
+ * SlabGetNextFreeChunk
+ *		Return the next free chunk in block and update the block to account
+ *		for the returned chunk now being used.
+ */
+static inline MemoryChunk *
+SlabGetNextFreeChunk(SlabContext *slab, SlabBlock *block)
+{
+	MemoryChunk *chunk;
+
+	Assert(block->nfree > 0);
+
+	if (block->freehead != NULL)
+	{
+		chunk = block->freehead;
+
+		/*
+		 * Pop the chunk from the linked list of free chunks.  The pointer to
+		 * the next free chunk is stored in the chunk itself.
+		 */
+		VALGRIND_MAKE_MEM_DEFINED(SlabChunkGetPointer(chunk), sizeof(MemoryChunk *));
+		block->freehead = *(MemoryChunk **) SlabChunkGetPointer(chunk);
+
+		/* check nothing stomped on the free chunk's memory */
+		Assert(block->freehead == NULL ||
+			   (block->freehead >= SlabBlockGetChunk(slab, block, 0) &&
+				block->freehead <= SlabBlockGetChunk(slab, block, slab->chunksPerBlock - 1) &&
+				SlabChunkMod(slab, block, block->freehead) == 0));
+	}
+	else
+	{
+		Assert(block->nunused > 0);
+
+		chunk = block->unused;
+		block->unused = (MemoryChunk *) (((char *) block->unused) + slab->fullChunkSize);
+		block->nunused--;
+	}
+
+	block->nfree--;
+
+	return chunk;
+}
 
 /*
  * SlabContextCreate
@@ -145,8 +324,6 @@ SlabContextCreate(MemoryContext parent,
 {
 	int			chunksPerBlock;
 	Size		fullChunkSize;
-	Size		freelistSize;
-	Size		headerSize;
 	SlabContext *slab;
 	int			i;
 
@@ -155,11 +332,14 @@ SlabContextCreate(MemoryContext parent,
 					 "sizeof(MemoryChunk) is not maxaligned");
 	Assert(MAXALIGN(chunkSize) <= MEMORYCHUNK_MAX_VALUE);
 
-	/* Make sure the linked list node fits inside a freed chunk */
-	if (chunkSize < sizeof(int))
-		chunkSize = sizeof(int);
+	/*
+	 * Ensure there's enough space to store the pointer to the next free chunk
+	 * in the memory of the (otherwise) unused allocation.
+	 */
+	if (chunkSize < sizeof(MemoryChunk *))
+		chunkSize = sizeof(MemoryChunk *);
 
-	/* chunk, including SLAB header (both addresses nicely aligned) */
+	/* length of the maxaligned chunk including the chunk header  */
 #ifdef MEMORY_CONTEXT_CHECKING
 	/* ensure there's always space for the sentinel byte */
 	fullChunkSize = Slab_CHUNKHDRSZ + MAXALIGN(chunkSize + 1);
@@ -167,36 +347,17 @@ SlabContextCreate(MemoryContext parent,
 	fullChunkSize = Slab_CHUNKHDRSZ + MAXALIGN(chunkSize);
 #endif
 
-	/* Make sure the block can store at least one chunk. */
-	if (blockSize < fullChunkSize + Slab_BLOCKHDRSZ)
-		elog(ERROR, "block size %zu for slab is too small for %zu chunks",
-			 blockSize, chunkSize);
-
-	/* Compute maximum number of chunks per block */
+	/* compute the number of chunks that will fit on each block */
 	chunksPerBlock = (blockSize - Slab_BLOCKHDRSZ) / fullChunkSize;
 
-	/* The freelist starts with 0, ends with chunksPerBlock. */
-	freelistSize = sizeof(dlist_head) * (chunksPerBlock + 1);
+	/* Make sure the block can store at least one chunk. */
+	if (chunksPerBlock == 0)
+		elog(ERROR, "block size %zu for slab is too small for %zu-byte chunks",
+			 blockSize, chunkSize);
 
-	/*
-	 * Allocate the context header.  Unlike aset.c, we never try to combine
-	 * this with the first regular block; not worth the extra complication.
-	 */
 
-	/* Size of the memory context header */
-	headerSize = offsetof(SlabContext, freelist) + freelistSize;
 
-#ifdef MEMORY_CONTEXT_CHECKING
-
-	/*
-	 * With memory checking, we need to allocate extra space for the bitmap of
-	 * free chunks. The bitmap is an array of bools, so we don't need to worry
-	 * about alignment.
-	 */
-	headerSize += chunksPerBlock * sizeof(bool);
-#endif
-
-	slab = (SlabContext *) malloc(headerSize);
+	slab = (SlabContext *) malloc(Slab_CONTEXT_HDRSZ(chunksPerBlock));
 	if (slab == NULL)
 	{
 		MemoryContextStats(TopMemoryContext);
@@ -216,19 +377,33 @@ SlabContextCreate(MemoryContext parent,
 	slab->chunkSize = chunkSize;
 	slab->fullChunkSize = fullChunkSize;
 	slab->blockSize = blockSize;
-	slab->headerSize = headerSize;
 	slab->chunksPerBlock = chunksPerBlock;
-	slab->minFreeChunks = 0;
-	slab->nblocks = 0;
+	slab->curBlocklistIndex = 0;
 
-	/* initialize the freelist slots */
-	for (i = 0; i < (slab->chunksPerBlock + 1); i++)
-		dlist_init(&slab->freelist[i]);
+	/*
+	 * Compute a shift that guarantees that shifting chunksPerBlock with it is
+	 * < SLAB_BLOCKLIST_COUNT - 1.  The reason that we subtract 1 from
+	 * SLAB_BLOCKLIST_COUNT in this calculation is that we reserve the 0th
+	 * blocklist element for blocks which have no free chunks.
+	 *
+	 * We calculate the number of bits to shift by rather than a divisor to
+	 * divide by as performing division each time we need to find the
+	 * blocklist index would be much slower.
+	 */
+	slab->blocklist_shift = 0;
+	while ((slab->chunksPerBlock >> slab->blocklist_shift) >= (SLAB_BLOCKLIST_COUNT - 1))
+		slab->blocklist_shift++;
+
+	/* initialize the list to store empty blocks to be reused */
+	dclist_init(&slab->emptyblocks);
+
+	/* initialize each blocklist slot */
+	for (i = 0; i < SLAB_BLOCKLIST_COUNT; i++)
+		dlist_init(&slab->blocklist[i]);
 
 #ifdef MEMORY_CONTEXT_CHECKING
-	/* set the freechunks pointer right after the freelists array */
-	slab->freechunks
-		= (bool *) slab + offsetof(SlabContext, freelist) + freelistSize;
+	/* set the isChunkFree pointer right after the end of the context */
+	slab->isChunkFree = (bool *) ((char *) slab + sizeof(SlabContext));
 #endif
 
 	/* Finally, do the type-independent part of context creation */
@@ -252,6 +427,7 @@ void
 SlabReset(MemoryContext context)
 {
 	SlabContext *slab = (SlabContext *) context;
+	dlist_mutable_iter miter;
 	int			i;
 
 	Assert(SlabIsValid(slab));
@@ -261,12 +437,24 @@ SlabReset(MemoryContext context)
 	SlabCheck(context);
 #endif
 
-	/* walk over freelists and free the blocks */
-	for (i = 0; i <= slab->chunksPerBlock; i++)
+	/* release any retained empty blocks */
+	dclist_foreach_modify(miter, &slab->emptyblocks)
 	{
-		dlist_mutable_iter miter;
+		SlabBlock  *block = dlist_container(SlabBlock, node, miter.cur);
 
-		dlist_foreach_modify(miter, &slab->freelist[i])
+		dclist_delete_from(&slab->emptyblocks, miter.cur);
+
+#ifdef CLOBBER_FREED_MEMORY
+		wipe_mem(block, slab->blockSize);
+#endif
+		free(block);
+		context->mem_allocated -= slab->blockSize;
+	}
+
+	/* walk over blocklist and free the blocks */
+	for (i = 0; i < SLAB_BLOCKLIST_COUNT; i++)
+	{
+		dlist_foreach_modify(miter, &slab->blocklist[i])
 		{
 			SlabBlock  *block = dlist_container(SlabBlock, node, miter.cur);
 
@@ -276,14 +464,12 @@ SlabReset(MemoryContext context)
 			wipe_mem(block, slab->blockSize);
 #endif
 			free(block);
-			slab->nblocks--;
 			context->mem_allocated -= slab->blockSize;
 		}
 	}
 
-	slab->minFreeChunks = 0;
+	slab->curBlocklistIndex = 0;
 
-	Assert(slab->nblocks == 0);
 	Assert(context->mem_allocated == 0);
 }
 
@@ -302,7 +488,7 @@ SlabDelete(MemoryContext context)
 
 /*
  * SlabAlloc
- *		Returns pointer to allocated memory of given size or NULL if
+ *		Returns a pointer to allocated memory of given size or NULL if
  *		request could not be completed; memory is added to the slab.
  */
 void *
@@ -311,127 +497,118 @@ SlabAlloc(MemoryContext context, Size size)
 	SlabContext *slab = (SlabContext *) context;
 	SlabBlock  *block;
 	MemoryChunk *chunk;
-	int			idx;
 
 	Assert(SlabIsValid(slab));
 
-	Assert((slab->minFreeChunks >= 0) &&
-		   (slab->minFreeChunks < slab->chunksPerBlock));
+	/* sanity check that this is pointing to a valid blocklist */
+	Assert(slab->curBlocklistIndex >= 0);
+	Assert(slab->curBlocklistIndex <= SlabBlocklistIndex(slab, slab->chunksPerBlock));
 
 	/* make sure we only allow correct request size */
-	if (size != slab->chunkSize)
+	if (unlikely(size != slab->chunkSize))
 		elog(ERROR, "unexpected alloc chunk size %zu (expected %zu)",
 			 size, slab->chunkSize);
 
 	/*
-	 * If there are no free chunks in any existing block, create a new block
-	 * and put it to the last freelist bucket.
-	 *
-	 * slab->minFreeChunks == 0 means there are no blocks with free chunks,
-	 * thanks to how minFreeChunks is updated at the end of SlabAlloc().
+	 * Handle the case when there are no partially filled blocks available.
+	 * SlabFree() will have updated the curBlocklistIndex setting it to zero
+	 * to indicate that it has freed the final block.  Also later in
+	 * SlabAlloc() we will set the curBlocklistIndex to zero if we end up
+	 * filling the final block.
 	 */
-	if (slab->minFreeChunks == 0)
+	if (unlikely(slab->curBlocklistIndex == 0))
 	{
-		block = (SlabBlock *) malloc(slab->blockSize);
+		dlist_head *blocklist;
+		int			blocklist_idx;
 
-		if (block == NULL)
-			return NULL;
-
-		block->nfree = slab->chunksPerBlock;
-		block->firstFreeChunk = 0;
-		block->slab = slab;
-
-		/*
-		 * Put all the chunks on a freelist. Walk the chunks and point each
-		 * one to the next one.
-		 */
-		for (idx = 0; idx < slab->chunksPerBlock; idx++)
+		/* to save allocating a new one, first check the empty blocks list */
+		if (dclist_count(&slab->emptyblocks) > 0)
 		{
-			chunk = SlabBlockGetChunk(slab, block, idx);
-			*(int32 *) MemoryChunkGetPointer(chunk) = (idx + 1);
+			dlist_node *node = dclist_pop_head_node(&slab->emptyblocks);
+
+			block = dlist_container(SlabBlock, node, node);
+
+			/*
+			 * SlabFree() should have left this block in a valid state with
+			 * all chunks free.  Ensure that's the case.
+			 */
+			Assert(block->nfree == slab->chunksPerBlock);
+
+			/* fetch the next chunk from this block */
+			chunk = SlabGetNextFreeChunk(slab, block);
+		}
+		else
+		{
+			block = (SlabBlock *) malloc(slab->blockSize);
+
+			if (unlikely(block == NULL))
+				return NULL;
+
+			block->slab = slab;
+			context->mem_allocated += slab->blockSize;
+
+			/* use the first chunk in the new block */
+			chunk = SlabBlockGetChunk(slab, block, 0);
+
+			block->nfree = slab->chunksPerBlock - 1;
+			block->unused = SlabBlockGetChunk(slab, block, 1);
+			block->freehead = NULL;
+			block->nunused = slab->chunksPerBlock - 1;
 		}
 
-		/*
-		 * And add it to the last freelist with all chunks empty.
-		 *
-		 * We know there are no blocks in the freelist, otherwise we wouldn't
-		 * need a new block.
-		 */
-		Assert(dlist_is_empty(&slab->freelist[slab->chunksPerBlock]));
+		/* find the blocklist element for storing blocks with 1 used chunk */
+		blocklist_idx = SlabBlocklistIndex(slab, block->nfree);
+		blocklist = &slab->blocklist[blocklist_idx];
 
-		dlist_push_head(&slab->freelist[slab->chunksPerBlock], &block->node);
+		/* this better be empty.  We just added a block thinking it was */
+		Assert(dlist_is_empty(blocklist));
 
-		slab->minFreeChunks = slab->chunksPerBlock;
-		slab->nblocks += 1;
-		context->mem_allocated += slab->blockSize;
+		dlist_push_head(blocklist, &block->node);
+
+		slab->curBlocklistIndex = blocklist_idx;
 	}
-
-	/* grab the block from the freelist (even the new block is there) */
-	block = dlist_head_element(SlabBlock, node,
-							   &slab->freelist[slab->minFreeChunks]);
-
-	/* make sure we actually got a valid block, with matching nfree */
-	Assert(block != NULL);
-	Assert(slab->minFreeChunks == block->nfree);
-	Assert(block->nfree > 0);
-
-	/* we know index of the first free chunk in the block */
-	idx = block->firstFreeChunk;
-
-	/* make sure the chunk index is valid, and that it's marked as empty */
-	Assert((idx >= 0) && (idx < slab->chunksPerBlock));
-
-	/* compute the chunk location block start (after the block header) */
-	chunk = SlabBlockGetChunk(slab, block, idx);
-
-	/*
-	 * Update the block nfree count, and also the minFreeChunks as we've
-	 * decreased nfree for a block with the minimum number of free chunks
-	 * (because that's how we chose the block).
-	 */
-	block->nfree--;
-	slab->minFreeChunks = block->nfree;
-
-	/*
-	 * Remove the chunk from the freelist head. The index of the next free
-	 * chunk is stored in the chunk itself.
-	 */
-	VALGRIND_MAKE_MEM_DEFINED(MemoryChunkGetPointer(chunk), sizeof(int32));
-	block->firstFreeChunk = *(int32 *) MemoryChunkGetPointer(chunk);
-
-	Assert(block->firstFreeChunk >= 0);
-	Assert(block->firstFreeChunk <= slab->chunksPerBlock);
-
-	Assert((block->nfree != 0 &&
-			block->firstFreeChunk < slab->chunksPerBlock) ||
-		   (block->nfree == 0 &&
-			block->firstFreeChunk == slab->chunksPerBlock));
-
-	/* move the whole block to the right place in the freelist */
-	dlist_delete(&block->node);
-	dlist_push_head(&slab->freelist[block->nfree], &block->node);
-
-	/*
-	 * And finally update minFreeChunks, i.e. the index to the block with the
-	 * lowest number of free chunks. We only need to do that when the block
-	 * got full (otherwise we know the current block is the right one). We'll
-	 * simply walk the freelist until we find a non-empty entry.
-	 */
-	if (slab->minFreeChunks == 0)
+	else
 	{
-		for (idx = 1; idx <= slab->chunksPerBlock; idx++)
-		{
-			if (dlist_is_empty(&slab->freelist[idx]))
-				continue;
+		dlist_head *blocklist = &slab->blocklist[slab->curBlocklistIndex];
+		int			new_blocklist_idx;
 
-			/* found a non-empty freelist */
-			slab->minFreeChunks = idx;
-			break;
+		Assert(!dlist_is_empty(blocklist));
+
+		/* grab the block from the blocklist */
+		block = dlist_head_element(SlabBlock, node, blocklist);
+
+		/* make sure we actually got a valid block, with matching nfree */
+		Assert(block != NULL);
+		Assert(slab->curBlocklistIndex == SlabBlocklistIndex(slab, block->nfree));
+		Assert(block->nfree > 0);
+
+		/* fetch the next chunk from this block */
+		chunk = SlabGetNextFreeChunk(slab, block);
+
+		/* get the new blocklist index based on the new free chunk count */
+		new_blocklist_idx = SlabBlocklistIndex(slab, block->nfree);
+
+		/*
+		 * Handle the case where the blocklist index changes.  This also deals
+		 * with blocks becoming full as only full blocks go at index 0.
+		 */
+		if (unlikely(slab->curBlocklistIndex != new_blocklist_idx))
+		{
+			dlist_delete_from(blocklist, &block->node);
+			dlist_push_head(&slab->blocklist[new_blocklist_idx], &block->node);
+
+			if (dlist_is_empty(blocklist))
+				slab->curBlocklistIndex = SlabFindNextBlockListIndex(slab);
 		}
 	}
 
-	if (slab->minFreeChunks == slab->chunksPerBlock)
-		slab->minFreeChunks = 0;
+	/*
+	 * Check that the chunk pointer is actually somewhere on the block and is
+	 * aligned as expected.
+	 */
+	Assert(chunk >= SlabBlockGetChunk(slab, block, 0));
+	Assert(chunk <= SlabBlockGetChunk(slab, block, slab->chunksPerBlock - 1));
+	Assert(SlabChunkMod(slab, block, chunk) == 0);
 
 	/* Prepare to initialize the chunk header. */
 	VALGRIND_MAKE_MEM_UNDEFINED(chunk, Slab_CHUNKHDRSZ);
@@ -453,8 +630,6 @@ SlabAlloc(MemoryContext context, Size size)
 	randomize_mem((char *) MemoryChunkGetPointer(chunk), size);
 #endif
 
-	Assert(slab->nblocks * slab->blockSize == context->mem_allocated);
-
 	return MemoryChunkGetPointer(chunk);
 }
 
@@ -468,7 +643,8 @@ SlabFree(void *pointer)
 	MemoryChunk *chunk = PointerGetMemoryChunk(pointer);
 	SlabBlock  *block = MemoryChunkGetBlock(chunk);
 	SlabContext *slab;
-	int			idx;
+	int			curBlocklistIdx;
+	int			newBlocklistIdx;
 
 	/*
 	 * For speed reasons we just Assert that the referenced block is good.
@@ -486,63 +662,82 @@ SlabFree(void *pointer)
 			 slab->header.name, chunk);
 #endif
 
-	/* compute index of the chunk with respect to block start */
-	idx = SlabChunkIndex(slab, block, chunk);
+	/* push this chunk onto the head of the block's free list */
+	*(MemoryChunk **) pointer = block->freehead;
+	block->freehead = chunk;
 
-	/* add chunk to freelist, and update block nfree count */
-	*(int32 *) pointer = block->firstFreeChunk;
-	block->firstFreeChunk = idx;
 	block->nfree++;
 
 	Assert(block->nfree > 0);
 	Assert(block->nfree <= slab->chunksPerBlock);
 
 #ifdef CLOBBER_FREED_MEMORY
-	/* XXX don't wipe the int32 index, used for block-level freelist */
-	wipe_mem((char *) pointer + sizeof(int32),
-			 slab->chunkSize - sizeof(int32));
+	/* don't wipe the free list MemoryChunk pointer stored in the chunk */
+	wipe_mem((char *) pointer + sizeof(MemoryChunk *),
+			 slab->chunkSize - sizeof(MemoryChunk *));
 #endif
 
-	/* remove the block from a freelist */
-	dlist_delete(&block->node);
+	curBlocklistIdx = SlabBlocklistIndex(slab, block->nfree - 1);
+	newBlocklistIdx = SlabBlocklistIndex(slab, block->nfree);
 
 	/*
-	 * See if we need to update the minFreeChunks field for the slab - we only
-	 * need to do that if there the block had that number of free chunks
-	 * before we freed one. In that case, we check if there still are blocks
-	 * in the original freelist and we either keep the current value (if there
-	 * still are blocks) or increment it by one (the new block is still the
-	 * one with minimum free chunks).
-	 *
-	 * The one exception is when the block will get completely free - in that
-	 * case we will free it, se we can't use it for minFreeChunks. It however
-	 * means there are no more blocks with free chunks.
+	 * Check if the block needs to be moved to another element on the
+	 * blocklist based on it now having 1 more free chunk.
 	 */
-	if (slab->minFreeChunks == (block->nfree - 1))
+	if (unlikely(curBlocklistIdx != newBlocklistIdx))
 	{
-		/* Have we removed the last chunk from the freelist? */
-		if (dlist_is_empty(&slab->freelist[slab->minFreeChunks]))
+		/* do the move */
+		dlist_delete_from(&slab->blocklist[curBlocklistIdx], &block->node);
+		dlist_push_head(&slab->blocklist[newBlocklistIdx], &block->node);
+
+		/*
+		 * It's possible that we've no blocks in the blocklist at the
+		 * curBlocklistIndex position.  When this happens we must find the
+		 * next blocklist index which contains blocks.  We can be certain
+		 * we'll find a block as at least one must exist for the chunk we're
+		 * currently freeing.
+		 */
+		if (slab->curBlocklistIndex == curBlocklistIdx &&
+			dlist_is_empty(&slab->blocklist[curBlocklistIdx]))
 		{
-			/* but if we made the block entirely free, we'll free it */
-			if (block->nfree == slab->chunksPerBlock)
-				slab->minFreeChunks = 0;
-			else
-				slab->minFreeChunks++;
+			slab->curBlocklistIndex = SlabFindNextBlockListIndex(slab);
+			Assert(slab->curBlocklistIndex > 0);
 		}
 	}
 
-	/* If the block is now completely empty, free it. */
-	if (block->nfree == slab->chunksPerBlock)
+	/* Handle when a block becomes completely empty */
+	if (unlikely(block->nfree == slab->chunksPerBlock))
 	{
-		free(block);
-		slab->nblocks--;
-		slab->header.mem_allocated -= slab->blockSize;
-	}
-	else
-		dlist_push_head(&slab->freelist[block->nfree], &block->node);
+		/* remove the block */
+		dlist_delete_from(&slab->blocklist[newBlocklistIdx], &block->node);
 
-	Assert(slab->nblocks >= 0);
-	Assert(slab->nblocks * slab->blockSize == slab->header.mem_allocated);
+		/*
+		 * To avoid thrashing malloc/free, we keep a list of empty blocks that
+		 * we can reuse again instead of having to malloc a new one.
+		 */
+		if (dclist_count(&slab->emptyblocks) < SLAB_MAXIMUM_EMPTY_BLOCKS)
+			dclist_push_head(&slab->emptyblocks, &block->node);
+		else
+		{
+			/*
+			 * When we have enough empty blocks stored already, we actually
+			 * free the block.
+			 */
+#ifdef CLOBBER_FREED_MEMORY
+			wipe_mem(block, slab->blockSize);
+#endif
+			free(block);
+			slab->header.mem_allocated -= slab->blockSize;
+		}
+
+		/*
+		 * Check if we need to reset the blocklist index.  This is required
+		 * when the blocklist this block is on has become completely empty.
+		 */
+		if (slab->curBlocklistIndex == newBlocklistIdx &&
+			dlist_is_empty(&slab->blocklist[newBlocklistIdx]))
+			slab->curBlocklistIndex = SlabFindNextBlockListIndex(slab);
+	}
 }
 
 /*
@@ -617,16 +812,14 @@ SlabGetChunkSpace(void *pointer)
 
 /*
  * SlabIsEmpty
- *		Is an Slab empty of any allocated space?
+ *		Is the slab empty of any allocated space?
  */
 bool
 SlabIsEmpty(MemoryContext context)
 {
-	SlabContext *slab = (SlabContext *) context;
+	Assert(SlabIsValid((SlabContext *) context));
 
-	Assert(SlabIsValid(slab));
-
-	return (slab->nblocks == 0);
+	return (context->mem_allocated == 0);
 }
 
 /*
@@ -654,13 +847,16 @@ SlabStats(MemoryContext context,
 	Assert(SlabIsValid(slab));
 
 	/* Include context header in totalspace */
-	totalspace = slab->headerSize;
+	totalspace = Slab_CONTEXT_HDRSZ(slab->chunksPerBlock);
 
-	for (i = 0; i <= slab->chunksPerBlock; i++)
+	/* Add the space consumed by blocks in the emptyblocks list */
+	totalspace += dclist_count(&slab->emptyblocks) * slab->blockSize;
+
+	for (i = 0; i < SLAB_BLOCKLIST_COUNT; i++)
 	{
 		dlist_iter	iter;
 
-		dlist_foreach(iter, &slab->freelist[i])
+		dlist_foreach(iter, &slab->blocklist[i])
 		{
 			SlabBlock  *block = dlist_container(SlabBlock, node, iter.cur);
 
@@ -675,10 +871,11 @@ SlabStats(MemoryContext context,
 	{
 		char		stats_string[200];
 
+		/* XXX should we include free chunks on empty blocks? */
 		snprintf(stats_string, sizeof(stats_string),
-				 "%zu total in %zu blocks; %zu free (%zu chunks); %zu used",
-				 totalspace, nblocks, freespace, freechunks,
-				 totalspace - freespace);
+				 "%zu total in %zu blocks; %u empty blocks; %zu free (%zu chunks); %zu used",
+				 totalspace, nblocks, dclist_count(&slab->emptyblocks),
+				 freespace, freechunks, totalspace - freespace);
 		printfunc(context, passthru, stats_string, print_to_stderr);
 	}
 
@@ -696,7 +893,7 @@ SlabStats(MemoryContext context,
 
 /*
  * SlabCheck
- *		Walk through chunks and check consistency of memory.
+ *		Walk through all blocks looking for inconsistencies.
  *
  * NOTE: report errors as WARNING, *not* ERROR or FATAL.  Otherwise you'll
  * find yourself in an infinite loop when trouble occurs, because this
@@ -707,67 +904,113 @@ SlabCheck(MemoryContext context)
 {
 	SlabContext *slab = (SlabContext *) context;
 	int			i;
+	int			nblocks = 0;
 	const char *name = slab->header.name;
+	dlist_iter	iter;
 
 	Assert(SlabIsValid(slab));
 	Assert(slab->chunksPerBlock > 0);
 
-	/* walk all the freelists */
-	for (i = 0; i <= slab->chunksPerBlock; i++)
+	/*
+	 * Have a look at the empty blocks.  These should have all their chunks
+	 * marked as free.  Ensure that's the case.
+	 */
+	dclist_foreach(iter, &slab->emptyblocks)
+	{
+		SlabBlock  *block = dlist_container(SlabBlock, node, iter.cur);
+
+		if (block->nfree != slab->chunksPerBlock)
+			elog(WARNING, "problem in slab %s: empty block %p should have %d free chunks but has %d chunks free",
+				 name, block, slab->chunksPerBlock, block->nfree);
+	}
+
+	/* walk the non-empty block lists */
+	for (i = 0; i < SLAB_BLOCKLIST_COUNT; i++)
 	{
 		int			j,
 					nfree;
-		dlist_iter	iter;
 
-		/* walk all blocks on this freelist */
-		dlist_foreach(iter, &slab->freelist[i])
+		/* walk all blocks on this blocklist */
+		dlist_foreach(iter, &slab->blocklist[i])
 		{
-			int			idx;
 			SlabBlock  *block = dlist_container(SlabBlock, node, iter.cur);
+			MemoryChunk *cur_chunk;
 
 			/*
 			 * Make sure the number of free chunks (in the block header)
-			 * matches position in the freelist.
+			 * matches the position in the blocklist.
 			 */
-			if (block->nfree != i)
-				elog(WARNING, "problem in slab %s: number of free chunks %d in block %p does not match freelist %d",
-					 name, block->nfree, block, i);
+			if (SlabBlocklistIndex(slab, block->nfree) != i)
+				elog(WARNING, "problem in slab %s: block %p is on blocklist %d but should be on blocklist %d",
+					 name, block, i, SlabBlocklistIndex(slab, block->nfree));
+
+			/* make sure the block is not empty */
+			if (block->nfree >= slab->chunksPerBlock)
+				elog(WARNING, "problem in slab %s: empty block %p incorrectly stored on blocklist element %d",
+					 name, block, i);
 
 			/* make sure the slab pointer correctly points to this context */
 			if (block->slab != slab)
 				elog(WARNING, "problem in slab %s: bogus slab link in block %p",
 					 name, block);
 
-			/* reset the bitmap of free chunks for this block */
-			memset(slab->freechunks, 0, (slab->chunksPerBlock * sizeof(bool)));
-			idx = block->firstFreeChunk;
+			/* reset the array of free chunks for this block */
+			memset(slab->isChunkFree, 0, (slab->chunksPerBlock * sizeof(bool)));
+			nfree = 0;
+
+			/* walk through the block's free list chunks */
+			cur_chunk = block->freehead;
+			while (cur_chunk != NULL)
+			{
+				int			chunkidx = SlabChunkIndex(slab, block, cur_chunk);
+
+				/*
+				 * Ensure the free list link points to something on the block
+				 * at an address aligned according to the full chunk size.
+				 */
+				if (cur_chunk < SlabBlockGetChunk(slab, block, 0) ||
+					cur_chunk > SlabBlockGetChunk(slab, block, slab->chunksPerBlock - 1) ||
+					SlabChunkMod(slab, block, cur_chunk) != 0)
+					elog(WARNING, "problem in slab %s: bogus free list link %p in block %p",
+						 name, cur_chunk, block);
+
+				/* count the chunk and mark it free on the free chunk array */
+				nfree++;
+				slab->isChunkFree[chunkidx] = true;
+
+				/* read pointer of the next free chunk */
+				VALGRIND_MAKE_MEM_DEFINED(MemoryChunkGetPointer(cur_chunk), sizeof(MemoryChunk *));
+				cur_chunk = *(MemoryChunk **) SlabChunkGetPointer(cur_chunk);
+			}
+
+			/* check that the unused pointer matches what nunused claims */
+			if (SlabBlockGetChunk(slab, block, slab->chunksPerBlock - block->nunused) !=
+				block->unused)
+				elog(WARNING, "problem in slab %s: mismatch detected between nunused chunks and unused pointer in block %p",
+					 name, block);
 
 			/*
-			 * Now walk through the chunks, count the free ones and also
-			 * perform some additional checks for the used ones. As the chunk
-			 * freelist is stored within the chunks themselves, we have to
-			 * walk through the chunks and construct our own bitmap.
+			 * count the remaining free chunks that have yet to make it onto
+			 * the block's free list.
 			 */
-
-			nfree = 0;
-			while (idx < slab->chunksPerBlock)
+			cur_chunk = block->unused;
+			for (j = 0; j < block->nunused; j++)
 			{
-				MemoryChunk *chunk;
+				int			chunkidx = SlabChunkIndex(slab, block, cur_chunk);
 
-				/* count the chunk as free, add it to the bitmap */
+
+				/* count the chunk as free and mark it as so in the array */
 				nfree++;
-				slab->freechunks[idx] = true;
+				if (chunkidx < slab->chunksPerBlock)
+					slab->isChunkFree[chunkidx] = true;
 
-				/* read index of the next free chunk */
-				chunk = SlabBlockGetChunk(slab, block, idx);
-				VALGRIND_MAKE_MEM_DEFINED(MemoryChunkGetPointer(chunk), sizeof(int32));
-				idx = *(int32 *) MemoryChunkGetPointer(chunk);
+				/* move forward 1 chunk */
+				cur_chunk = (MemoryChunk *) (((char *) cur_chunk) + slab->fullChunkSize);
 			}
 
 			for (j = 0; j < slab->chunksPerBlock; j++)
 			{
-				/* non-zero bit in the bitmap means chunk the chunk is used */
-				if (!slab->freechunks[j])
+				if (!slab->isChunkFree[j])
 				{
 					MemoryChunk *chunk = SlabBlockGetChunk(slab, block, j);
 					SlabBlock  *chunkblock = (SlabBlock *) MemoryChunkGetBlock(chunk);
@@ -793,12 +1036,17 @@ SlabCheck(MemoryContext context)
 			 * in the block header).
 			 */
 			if (nfree != block->nfree)
-				elog(WARNING, "problem in slab %s: number of free chunks %d in block %p does not match bitmap %d",
-					 name, block->nfree, block, nfree);
+				elog(WARNING, "problem in slab %s: nfree in block %p is %d but %d chunk were found as free",
+					 name, block, block->nfree, nfree);
+
+			nblocks++;
 		}
 	}
 
-	Assert(slab->nblocks * slab->blockSize == context->mem_allocated);
+	/* the stored empty blocks are tracked in mem_allocated too */
+	nblocks += dclist_count(&slab->emptyblocks);
+
+	Assert(nblocks * slab->blockSize == context->mem_allocated);
 }
 
 #endif							/* MEMORY_CONTEXT_CHECKING */