diff --git a/jetty-client/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/client/HttpRequest.java b/jetty-client/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/client/HttpRequest.java
index 458dca3d92d..b44caddbb4a 100644
--- a/jetty-client/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/client/HttpRequest.java
+++ b/jetty-client/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/client/HttpRequest.java
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ public class HttpRequest implements Request
         path = uri.getRawPath();
         query = uri.getRawQuery();
         extractParams(query);
-        this.uri = buildURI();
+        this.uri = buildURI(true);
         followRedirects(client.isFollowRedirects());
     }
 
@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ public class HttpRequest implements Request
     public Request scheme(String scheme)
     {
         this.scheme = scheme;
-        this.uri = buildURI();
+        this.uri = buildURI(true);
         return this;
     }
 
@@ -155,7 +155,9 @@ public class HttpRequest implements Request
             params.clear();
             extractParams(query);
         }
-        this.uri = buildURI();
+        this.uri = buildURI(true);
+        if (uri.isAbsolute())
+            this.path = buildURI(false).toString();
         return this;
     }
 
@@ -552,11 +554,11 @@ public class HttpRequest implements Request
         }
     }
 
-    private URI buildURI()
+    private URI buildURI(boolean withQuery)
     {
         String path = getPath();
         String query = getQuery();
-        if (query != null)
+        if (query != null && withQuery)
             path += "?" + query;
         URI result = URI.create(path);
         if (!result.isAbsolute())
diff --git a/jetty-client/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/client/api/Request.java b/jetty-client/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/client/api/Request.java
index 252aff12822..d582028272f 100644
--- a/jetty-client/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/client/api/Request.java
+++ b/jetty-client/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/client/api/Request.java
@@ -96,8 +96,8 @@ public interface Request
      * Specifies the path - and possibly the query - of this request.
      * If the query part is specified, parameter values must be properly
      * {@link URLEncoder#encode(String, String) UTF-8 URL encoded}.
-     * For example, if the parameter value is the euro symbol € then the
-     * query string must be "param=%E2%82%AC".
+     * For example, if the value for parameter "currency" is the euro symbol € then the
+     * query string for this parameter must be "currency=%E2%82%AC".
      * For transparent encoding of parameter values, use {@link #param(String, String)}.
      *
      * @param path the path of this request, such as "/" or "/path?param=1"
diff --git a/jetty-client/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/client/HttpClientProxyTest.java b/jetty-client/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/client/HttpClientProxyTest.java
index c645f1cdb3e..1c35264ea57 100644
--- a/jetty-client/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/client/HttpClientProxyTest.java
+++ b/jetty-client/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/client/HttpClientProxyTest.java
@@ -57,8 +57,12 @@ public class HttpClientProxyTest extends AbstractHttpClientServerTest
             public void handle(String target, org.eclipse.jetty.server.Request baseRequest, HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws IOException, ServletException
             {
                 baseRequest.setHandled(true);
-                if (serverHost.equals(request.getServerName()))
+                if (!URI.create(baseRequest.getUri().toString()).isAbsolute())
+                    response.setStatus(HttpServletResponse.SC_USE_PROXY);
+                else if (serverHost.equals(request.getServerName()))
                     response.setStatus(status);
+                else
+                    response.setStatus(HttpServletResponse.SC_NOT_ACCEPTABLE);
             }
         });