diff --git a/docs/user/quickstart.rst b/docs/user/quickstart.rst
index 32d63388..0eafc62d 100644
--- a/docs/user/quickstart.rst
+++ b/docs/user/quickstart.rst
@@ -390,8 +390,10 @@ seconds with the ``timeout`` parameter::
 
 .. admonition:: Note
 
-    ``timeout`` only affects the connection process itself, not the
-    downloading of the response body.
+    ``timeout`` is not a time limit on the entire response download;
+    rather, an exception is raised if the server has not issued a
+    response for ``timeout`` seconds (more precisely, if no bytes have been
+    received on the underlying socket for ``timeout`` seconds).
 
 
 Errors and Exceptions