diff --git a/src/expr.c b/src/expr.c
index 9ead59a2..1ff26673 100644
--- a/src/expr.c
+++ b/src/expr.c
@@ -38,8 +38,8 @@
   5) N_BUILTIN_FUNC: A reference to a built-in function
   6) N_USER_FUNC:    A reference to a user-defined function
   7) N_OPERATOR:     A reference to an operator such as "+" or "&&"
-  8) N_ERROR:        A node resulting from a parse error
-  9) N_SHORT_STR:    A string constant short enough to store in u.name
+  8) N_SHORT_STR:    A string constant short enough to store in u.name
+  9) N_ERROR:        An uninitialized node, or a parse error
 
   Additional types are N_SHORT_VAR, N_SHORT_SYSVAR, and N_SHORT_USER_FUNC
   which behave identically to N_VARIABLE, N_SYSVAR and N_USER_FUNC
diff --git a/src/types.h b/src/types.h
index e4526047..8fc61b6d 100644
--- a/src/types.h
+++ b/src/types.h
@@ -41,8 +41,7 @@ typedef struct {
 /* New-style expr_node structure and constants */
 enum expr_node_type
 {
-    N_FREE,
-    N_ERROR,
+    N_FREE = 0,
     N_CONSTANT,
     N_SHORT_STR,
     N_LOCAL_VAR,
@@ -54,6 +53,7 @@ enum expr_node_type
     N_SHORT_USER_FUNC,
     N_USER_FUNC,
     N_OPERATOR,
+    N_ERROR = 32767,
 };
 
 /* Structure for passing in Nargs and out RetVal from functions */