diff --git a/doc/dlb.6 b/doc/dlb.6
index c002537ce..e314989d2 100644
--- a/doc/dlb.6
+++ b/doc/dlb.6
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@
 ..
 .NB $NHDT-Branch: keni-gitset $
 .NR $NHDT-Revision: 1.13 $
+.ie \n(.g .ds ^ \(ha
+.el       .ds ^ ^
 .\" groff and AT&T-descended troffs use different hyphenation patterns. 
 .\" Don't hyphenate the last word on a page or column, or
 .\" before/after last/first 2 characters of a word.
@@ -69,18 +71,18 @@ Unlike
 is configured with a default set of file names to process.
 .ig
 .PP
-^?ALLDOCS
+\*^?ALLDOCS
 This facility is optional and may be excluded during NetHack
 configuration.
-^:
-^?DLB
+\*^:
+\*^?DLB
 This facility is optional but is included in this NetHack
 configuration.
-^:
+\*^:
 This facility is optional and was excluded from this NetHack
 configuration.
-^.
-^.
+\*^.
+\*^.
 ..
 .SS Operations
 .B c
diff --git a/doc/makedefs.6 b/doc/makedefs.6
index c9e617db6..9c33ef6e3 100644
--- a/doc/makedefs.6
+++ b/doc/makedefs.6
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@
 ..
 .NB $NHDT-Branch: NetHack-5 $
 .NR $NHDT-Revision: 1.22 $
+.ie \n(.g .ds ^ \(ha
+.el       .ds ^ ^
 .\" groff and AT&T-descended troffs use different hyphenation patterns.
 .\" Don't hyphenate the last word on a page or column, or
 .\" before/after last/first 2 characters of a word.
@@ -220,7 +222,7 @@ The default conditional state is printing enabled.
 .IP - 4
 Any line
 .I NOT
-starting with a caret (^) is either suppressed or passed through unchanged
+starting with a caret (\*^) is either suppressed or passed through unchanged
 depending on the current conditional state.
 .IP - 4
 Any line starting with a caret is a control line; as in C, zero or more spaces
@@ -243,21 +245,21 @@ configuration are different from unknown.
 .P
 Control lines:
 .RS
-.IP ^^ 4
+.IP \*^\*^ 4
 a line starting with a (single) literal caret
-.IP ^#
+.IP \*^#
 a comment
-.IP ^?\fIID
+.IP \*^?\fIID
 if the
 .I ID
 is defined set the conditional state to TRUE
-.IP ^!\fIID
+.IP \*^!\fIID
 if the
 .I ID
 is not defined set the conditional state to TRUE
-.IP ^:
+.IP \*^:
 else; invert the conditional state
-.IP ^.
+.IP \*^.
 end the most recent conditional
 .RE
 .\".SH EXAMPLES
diff --git a/doc/recover.6 b/doc/recover.6
index 1fcdff662..5d78684ee 100644
--- a/doc/recover.6
+++ b/doc/recover.6
@@ -10,7 +10,9 @@
 ..
 .NB $NHDT-Branch: NetHack-5 $
 .NR $NHDT-Revision: 1.12 $
-.\" groff and AT&T-descended troffs use different hyphenation patterns. 
+.ie \n(.g .ds ^ \(ha
+.el       .ds ^ ^
+.\" groff and AT&T-descended troffs use different hyphenation patterns.
 .\" Don't hyphenate the last word on a page or column, or
 .\" before/after last/first 2 characters of a word.
 .ie \n(.g .hy 12
@@ -49,26 +51,26 @@ specified by the game administrator during compilation
 (usually /usr/games/lib/nethackdir).
 .ig
 .PP
-^?ALLDOCS
+\*^?ALLDOCS
 For recovery to be possible,
 .I nethack
 must have been compiled with the INSURANCE option, and the run-time option
 .I checkpoint
 must also have been on.
-^:
-^?INSURANCE
+\*^:
+\*^?INSURANCE
 For recovery to be possible,
 .I nethack
 must have been compiled with the INSURANCE option (this configuration was),
 and the run-time option
 .I checkpoint
 must also have been on.
-^:
+\*^:
 This configuration of
 .I nethack
 was created without support for recovery.
-^.
-^.
+\*^.
+\*^.
 ..
 NetHack normally writes out files for levels as the player leaves them,
 so they will be ready for return visits.