diff --git a/src/arg_desc.jl b/src/arg_desc.jl
index 120d1c36..81be39ac 100644
--- a/src/arg_desc.jl
+++ b/src/arg_desc.jl
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 
-const _arg_desc = KW(
+const _arg_desc = Dict{Symbol,String}(
 
 # series args
 :label 			=> "String type. The label for a series, which appears in a legend.  If empty, no legend entry is added.",
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ const _arg_desc = KW(
 :primary                => "Bool.  Does this count as a 'real series'?  For example, you could have a path (primary), and a scatter (secondary) as 2 separate series, maybe with different data (see sticks recipe for an example).  The secondary series will get the same color, etc as the primary.",
 :hover 	        	=> "nothing or vector of strings. Text to display when hovering over each data point.",
 :colorbar_entry   => "Bool.  Include this series in the color bar?  Set to `false` to exclude.",
-  
+
 # plot args
 :plot_title               => "String. Title for the whole plot (not the subplots) (Note: Not currently implemented)",
 :background_color         => "Color Type.  Base color for all backgrounds.",
diff --git a/src/backends/gr.jl b/src/backends/gr.jl
index effe89bc..ec5d170e 100644
--- a/src/backends/gr.jl
+++ b/src/backends/gr.jl
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ export GR
 
 # --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-const gr_linetype = KW(
+const gr_linetype = Dict{Symbol,Int}(
     :auto => 1,
     :solid => 1,
     :dash => 2,
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ const gr_linetype = KW(
     :dashdotdot => -1
 )
 
-const gr_markertype = KW(
+const gr_markertype = Dict{Symbol,Int}(
     :auto => 1,
     :none => -1,
     :circle => -1,
@@ -45,19 +45,19 @@ const gr_markertype = KW(
     :hline => -31
 )
 
-const gr_halign = KW(
+const gr_halign = Dict{Symbol,Int}(
     :left => 1,
     :hcenter => 2,
     :right => 3
 )
 
-const gr_valign = KW(
+const gr_valign = Dict{Symbol,Int}(
     :top => 1,
     :vcenter => 3,
     :bottom => 5
 )
 
-const gr_font_family = Dict(
+const gr_font_family = Dict{String,Int}(
     "times" => 1,
     "helvetica" => 5,
     "courier" => 9,
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ gr_set_transparency(c, α) = gr_set_transparency(α)
 gr_set_transparency(c::Colorant, ::Nothing) = gr_set_transparency(c)
 gr_set_transparency(c::Colorant) = GR.settransparency(alpha(c))
 
-const _gr_arrow_map = Dict(
+const _gr_arrow_map = Dict{Symbol,Int}(
     :simple => 1,
     :hollow => 3,
     :filled => 4,
@@ -1580,7 +1580,7 @@ end
 
 # ----------------------------------------------------------------
 
-const _gr_mimeformats = Dict(
+const _gr_mimeformats = Dict{String,String}(
     "application/pdf"         => "pdf",
     "image/png"               => "png",
     "application/postscript"  => "ps",
diff --git a/src/components.jl b/src/components.jl
index 3e7c312f..7299decc 100644
--- a/src/components.jl
+++ b/src/components.jl
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ const _shape_keys = Symbol[
   :x,
 ]
 
-const _shapes = KW(
+const _shapes = Dict{Symbol,Shape}(
     :circle    => makeshape(20),
     :rect       => makeshape(4, offset=-0.25),
     :diamond    => makeshape(4),