diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/gettext/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/gettext/package.py
index b3397419bd..efb9c3c088 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/gettext/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/gettext/package.py
@@ -61,6 +61,8 @@ class Gettext(AutotoolsPackage):
     depends_on('libunistring', when='+libunistring')
     # depends_on('cvs')
 
+    patch('test-verify-parallel-make-check.patch', when='@:0.19.8.1')
+
     def configure_args(self):
         spec = self.spec
 
@@ -100,13 +102,3 @@ def configure_args(self):
             config_args.append('--with-included-libunistring')
 
         return config_args
-
-    def check(self):
-        # Test suite fails when run in parallel:
-        #
-        # FAIL: test-verify
-        # =================
-        #
-        # icc: error #10236: File not found:  'test-verify.o'
-        # FAIL test-verify (exit status: 1)
-        make('check', parallel=False)
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/gettext/test-verify-parallel-make-check.patch b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/gettext/test-verify-parallel-make-check.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5f5aebcbfd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/gettext/test-verify-parallel-make-check.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+2017-04-20  Bruno Haible  <bruno@clisp.org>
+
+        verify tests: Fix spurious failure with parallel make.
+        * tests/test-verify.sh: Build test-verify-try.o, not test-verify.o.
+        * tests/test-verify-try.c: New file.
+        Reported by Adam James Stewart <ajstewart@anl.gov>.
+
+diff --git a/gettext-tools/gnulib-tests/test-verify.sh b/gettext-tools/gnulib-tests/test-verify.sh
+index 3e76761..1e75d55 100755
+--- a/gettext-tools/gnulib-tests/test-verify.sh
++++ b/gettext-tools/gnulib-tests/test-verify.sh
+@@ -7,8 +7,9 @@ unset MALLOC_PERTURB_
+ 
+ # Rather than figure out how to invoke the compiler with the right
+ # include path ourselves, we let make do it:
+-(cd "$initial_cwd_" && rm -f test-verify.o \
+-    && $MAKE test-verify.o >/dev/null 2>&1) \
++(cd "$initial_cwd_" \
++ && rm -f test-verify-try.o \
++ && $MAKE test-verify-try.o >/dev/null 2>&1) \
+   || skip_ "cannot compile error-free"
+ 
+ # Now, prove that we encounter all expected compilation failures:
+@@ -16,8 +17,8 @@ unset MALLOC_PERTURB_
+ : >err
+ for i in 1 2 3 4 5; do
+   (cd "$initial_cwd_"
+-   rm -f test-verify.o
+-   $MAKE CFLAGS=-DEXP_FAIL=$i test-verify.o) >>out 2>>err \
++   rm -f test-verify-try.o
++   $MAKE CFLAGS=-DEXP_FAIL=$i test-verify-try.o) >>out 2>>err \
+   && { warn_ "compiler didn't detect verification failure $i"; fail=1; }
+ done
+ 
+diff --git a/gettext-tools/gnulib-tests/test-verify-try.c b/gettext-tools/gnulib-tests/test-verify-try.c
+new file mode 100644
+index 0000000..362fb01
+--- /dev/null
++++ b/tests/test-verify-try.c
+@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
++/* Test the "verify" module.
++
++   Copyright (C) 2017 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
++
++   This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
++   it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
++   the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or
++   (at your option) any later version.
++
++   This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
++   but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
++   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
++   GNU General Public License for more details.
++
++   You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
++   along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.  */
++
++/* This is a separate source file, so that the execution of test-verify.sh
++   does not interfere with the building of the 'test-verify' program.  */
++
++#include "test-verify.c"