diff --git a/src/include/lib/simplehash.h b/src/include/lib/simplehash.h
index 96f0c21f60..f93809a482 100644
--- a/src/include/lib/simplehash.h
+++ b/src/include/lib/simplehash.h
@@ -51,7 +51,8 @@
  *	  - SH_STORE_HASH - if defined the hash is stored in the elements
  *	  - SH_GET_HASH(tb, a) - return the field to store the hash in
  *
- *	  The element type is required to contain a "uint32 status" member.
+ *	  The element type is required to contain a "status" member which must be
+ *	  an integer type of at least char in width.
  *
  *	  While SH_STORE_HASH (and subsequently SH_GET_HASH) are optional, because
  *	  the hash table implementation needs to compare hashes to move elements
@@ -98,9 +99,6 @@
 
 /* type declarations */
 #define SH_TYPE SH_MAKE_NAME(hash)
-#define SH_STATUS SH_MAKE_NAME(status)
-#define SH_STATUS_EMPTY SH_MAKE_NAME(SH_EMPTY)
-#define SH_STATUS_IN_USE SH_MAKE_NAME(SH_IN_USE)
 #define SH_ITERATOR SH_MAKE_NAME(iterator)
 
 /* function declarations */
@@ -130,6 +128,17 @@
 #define SH_INSERT_HASH_INTERNAL SH_MAKE_NAME(insert_hash_internal)
 #define SH_LOOKUP_HASH_INTERNAL SH_MAKE_NAME(lookup_hash_internal)
 
+/* Undef these for cases where users include simplehash.h twice */
+#undef SH_STATUS_EMPTY
+#undef SH_STATUS_IN_USE
+
+/*
+ * Values for SH_ELEMENT_TYPE->status field.  Values must fit in char data
+ * type.
+ */
+#define SH_STATUS_EMPTY		0
+#define SH_STATUS_IN_USE	1
+
 /* generate forward declarations necessary to use the hash table */
 #ifdef SH_DECLARE
 
@@ -164,12 +173,6 @@ typedef struct SH_TYPE
 	void	   *private_data;
 }			SH_TYPE;
 
-typedef enum SH_STATUS
-{
-	SH_STATUS_EMPTY = 0x00,
-	SH_STATUS_IN_USE = 0x01
-} SH_STATUS;
-
 typedef struct SH_ITERATOR
 {
 	uint32		cur;			/* current element */
@@ -1090,9 +1093,6 @@ SH_STAT(SH_TYPE * tb)
 
 /* types */
 #undef SH_TYPE
-#undef SH_STATUS
-#undef SH_STATUS_EMPTY
-#undef SH_STATUS_IN_USE
 #undef SH_ITERATOR
 
 /* external function names */