diff --git a/lib/net/http.rb b/lib/net/http.rb
index e0d35e5..8caec85 100644
--- a/lib/net/http.rb
+++ b/lib/net/http.rb
@@ -443,6 +443,23 @@ module Net   #:nodoc:
       BufferedIO
     end
 
+    class << self
+      def check_convert_type(val, type, meth)
+        if val.is_a?(type)
+          return val
+        elsif val.respond?(meth)
+          tmp = val.__send__(meth)
+          return tmp if tmp.is_a?(type)
+
+          raise TypeError, "can't convert %s to %s (%s#%s gives %s)" %
+          [val.class.name, type.name, val.class.name, method, tmp.class.name]
+        else
+          return nil
+        end
+      end
+      private :check_convert_type
+    end
+
     # creates a new Net::HTTP object and opens its TCP connection and
     # HTTP session.  If the optional block is given, the newly
     # created Net::HTTP object is passed to it and closed when the
@@ -450,8 +467,21 @@ module Net   #:nodoc:
     # is the return value of the block.  If no block is given, the
     # return value of this method is the newly created Net::HTTP object
     # itself, and the caller is responsible for closing it upon completion.
-    def HTTP.start(address, port = nil, p_addr = nil, p_port = nil, p_user = nil, p_pass = nil, &block) # :yield: +http+
-      new(address, port, p_addr, p_port, p_user, p_pass).start(&block)
+    def HTTP.start(address, *arg, &block) # :yield: +http+
+      arg.pop if opt = check_convert_type(arg[-1], Hash, :to_hash)
+      port, p_addr, p_port, p_user, p_pass = *arg
+      port = https_default_port if opt[:use_ssl] && !port
+      http = new(address, port, p_addr, p_port, p_user, p_pass)
+
+      opt = {verify_mode: OpenSSL::SSL::VERIFY_PEER}.update(opt) if opt[:use_ssl]
+      http.methods.each do |meth|
+        /\A(\w+)=\z/ =~ meth or next
+        key = $1.to_sym
+        opt.key?(key) or next
+        http.__send__(meth, opt[key])
+      end
+
+      http.start(&block)
     end
 
     class << HTTP