diff --git a/lib/puppet/util/autoload.rb b/lib/puppet/util/autoload.rb
index 69a80fa..89b241a 100644
--- a/lib/puppet/util/autoload.rb
+++ b/lib/puppet/util/autoload.rb
@@ -63,11 +63,15 @@ class Puppet::Util::Autoload
         unless defined? @wrap
             @wrap = true
         end
+
+        @could_not_find = {}
     end

     # Load a single plugin by name.  We use 'load' here so we can reload a
     # given plugin.
     def load(name)
+        return false if already_missed?(name)
+
         path = name.to_s + ".rb"

         eachdir do |dir|
@@ -87,12 +91,21 @@ class Puppet::Util::Autoload
                         puts detail.backtrace
                     end
                 end
-                return false
+                return could_not_find(name)
             end
         end
+        return could_not_find(name)
+    end
+
+    def could_not_find(name)
+        @could_not_find[name.to_s] = true
         return false
     end

+    def already_missed?(name)
+        @could_not_find.include?(name.to_s)
+    end
+
     # Mark the named object as loaded.  Note that this supports unqualified
     # queries, while we store the result as a qualified query in the class.
     def loaded(name, file)