diff --git a/plugins/check_curl.c b/plugins/check_curl.c
index 56697451..62d7b194 100644
--- a/plugins/check_curl.c
+++ b/plugins/check_curl.c
@@ -273,7 +273,8 @@ mp_subcheck check_http(const check_curl_config config, check_curl_working_state
 
 	/* Custom handling for timeouts */
 	if (res == CURLE_OPERATION_TIMEDOUT) {
-		xasprintf(&sc_curl.output, _("cURL got a timeout error"));
+		xasprintf(&sc_curl.output, _("cURL returned %d - %s"),
+			res, errbuf[0] ? errbuf : curl_easy_strerror(res));
 		sc_curl = mp_set_subcheck_state(sc_curl, config.on_timeout_result_state);
 		mp_add_subcheck_to_subcheck(&sc_result, sc_curl);
 		return sc_result;
@@ -1024,7 +1025,9 @@ check_curl_config_wrapper process_arguments(int argc, char **argv) {
 			} else if (!strcmp(optarg, "3") || !strcmp(optarg, "unknown")) {
 				result.config.on_timeout_result_state = STATE_UNKNOWN;
 			} else {
-				usage2(_("Invalid timeout-result state option, give either a return code or state name in lowercase"), optarg);
+				usage2(_("Invalid timeout-result state option, give either a return code or state "
+						 "name in lowercase"),
+					   optarg);
 			}
 			break;
 		case 'c': /* critical time threshold */
@@ -1725,8 +1728,8 @@ void print_help(void) {
 	printf(UT_CONN_TIMEOUT, DEFAULT_SOCKET_TIMEOUT);
 
 	printf(" %s\n", "--timeout-result=RESULT|INTEGER");
-	printf("    %s\n",_("Timeouts default to returning STATE_CRITICAL."));
-	printf("    %s\n",_("This argument changes the return state on timeouts."));
+	printf("    %s\n", _("Timeouts default to returning STATE_CRITICAL."));
+	printf("    %s\n", _("This argument changes the return state on timeouts."));
 
 	printf(UT_VERBOSE);
 
diff --git a/plugins/t/check_curl.t b/plugins/t/check_curl.t
index 0f4d0de7..7037c344 100644
--- a/plugins/t/check_curl.t
+++ b/plugins/t/check_curl.t
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ use vars qw($tests $has_ipv6);
 BEGIN {
     use NPTest;
     $has_ipv6 = NPTest::has_ipv6();
-    $tests = $has_ipv6 ? 57 : 92;
+    $tests = $has_ipv6 ? 65 : 100;
     plan tests => $tests;
 }
 
@@ -69,7 +69,32 @@ $res = NPTest->testCmd(
     );
 cmp_ok( $res->return_code, '==', 2, "Webserver $host_nonresponsive not responding" );
 # was CRITICAL only, but both check_curl and check_http print HTTP CRITICAL (puzzle?!)
-like( $res->output, "/cURL returned 28 - Connection timed out after/", "Output OK");
+like( $res->output, "/cURL returned 28 - Operation timed out after/", "Output OK");
+
+# timeout return results can be changed using --timeout-result option
+$res = NPTest->testCmd(
+    "./$plugin $host_nonresponsive -wt 1 -ct 2 -t 3 --timeout-result ok"
+    );
+like( $res->output, "/cURL returned 28 - Operation timed out after/", "Output OK");
+cmp_ok( $res->return_code, "==", 0, "Return code is correct due argument: --timeout-result ok");
+
+$res = NPTest->testCmd(
+    "./$plugin $host_nonresponsive -wt 1 -ct 2 -t 3 --timeout-result warning"
+    );
+like( $res->output, "/cURL returned 28 - Operation timed out after/", "Output OK");
+cmp_ok( $res->return_code, "==", 1, "Return code is correct due argument: --timeout-result warning");
+
+$res = NPTest->testCmd(
+    "./$plugin $host_nonresponsive -wt 1 -ct 2 -t 3 --timeout-result 2"
+    );
+like( $res->output, "/cURL returned 28 - Operation timed out after/", "Output OK");
+cmp_ok( $res->return_code, "==", 2, "Return code is correct due argument: --timeout-result 2");
+
+$res = NPTest->testCmd(
+    "./$plugin $host_nonresponsive -wt 1 -ct 2 -t 3 --timeout-result 3"
+    );
+like( $res->output, "/cURL returned 28 - Operation timed out after/", "Output OK");
+cmp_ok( $res->return_code, "==", 3, "Return code is correct due argument: --timeout-result 3");
 
 $res = NPTest->testCmd(
     "./$plugin $hostname_invalid -wt 1 -ct 2"