diff --git a/hy/contrib/loop.hy b/hy/contrib/loop.hy
index 9ab9eb8..3417256 100644
--- a/hy/contrib/loop.hy
+++ b/hy/contrib/loop.hy
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
     (when (not (first active))
       (assoc active 0 True)
       (while (> (len accumulated) 0)
-        (setv result (apply f (.pop accumulated))))
+        (setv result (f #* (.pop accumulated))))
       (assoc active 0 False)
       result)))
 
diff --git a/hy/contrib/multi.hy b/hy/contrib/multi.hy
index 639c96a..8c89486 100644
--- a/hy/contrib/multi.hy
+++ b/hy/contrib/multi.hy
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
     (setv output None)
     (for [[i f] (.items (get self._fns self.f.__module__ self.f.__name__))]
       (when (.fn? self i args kwargs)
-        (setv output (apply f args kwargs))
+        (setv output (f #* args #** kwargs))
         (break)))
     (if output
       output
@@ -37,10 +37,10 @@
 
 (defn multi-decorator [dispatch-fn]
   (setv inner (fn [&rest args &kwargs kwargs]
-                (setv dispatch-key (apply dispatch-fn args kwargs))
+                (setv dispatch-key (dispatch-fn #* args #** kwargs))
                 (if (in dispatch-key inner.--multi--)
-                  (apply (get inner.--multi-- dispatch-key) args kwargs)
-                  (apply inner.--multi-default-- args kwargs))))
+                  ((get inner.--multi-- dispatch-key) #* args #** kwargs)
+                  (inner.--multi-default-- #* args #** kwargs))))
   (setv inner.--multi-- {})
   (setv inner.--doc-- dispatch-fn.--doc--)
   (setv inner.--multi-default-- (fn [&rest args &kwargs kwargs] None))
diff --git a/hy/contrib/profile.hy b/hy/contrib/profile.hy
index afee3b0..42ef1a4 100644
--- a/hy/contrib/profile.hy
+++ b/hy/contrib/profile.hy
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
   `(do
      (import [pycallgraph [PyCallGraph]]
              [pycallgraph.output [GraphvizOutput]])
-     (with* [(apply PyCallGraph [] {"output" (GraphvizOutput)})]
+     (with* [(PyCallGraph :output (GraphvizOutput)))]
            ~@body)))
 
 
@@ -29,6 +29,6 @@
      (.disable ~g!hy-pr)
      (setv ~g!hy-s (StringIO))
      (setv ~g!hy-ps
-           (.sort-stats (apply pstats.Stats [~g!hy-pr] {"stream" ~g!hy-s})))
+           (.sort-stats (pstats.Stats ~g!hy-pr :stream ~g!hy-s)))
      (.print-stats ~g!hy-ps)
      (print (.getvalue ~g!hy-s))))
diff --git a/hy/core/language.hy b/hy/core/language.hy
index 6bcdb79..9c29d27 100644
--- a/hy/core/language.hy
+++ b/hy/core/language.hy
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@
                 first-f (next rfs)
                 fs (tuple rfs))
           (fn [&rest args &kwargs kwargs]
-            (setv res (apply first-f args kwargs))
+            (setv res (first-f #* args #** kwargs))
             (for* [f fs]
               (setv res (f res)))
             res))))
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@
 (defn complement [f]
   "Create a function that reverses truth value of another function"
   (fn [&rest args &kwargs kwargs]
-    (not (apply f args kwargs))))
+    (not (f #* args #** kwargs))))
 
 (defn cons [a b]
   "Return a fresh cons cell with car = a and cdr = b"
@@ -160,8 +160,8 @@
 (defn drop-last [n coll]
   "Return a sequence of all but the last n elements in coll."
   (setv iters (tee coll))
-  (map first (apply zip [(get iters 0)
-                         (drop n (get iters 1))])))
+  (map first (zip #* [(get iters 0)
+                      (drop n (get iters 1))])))
 
 (defn empty? [coll]
   "Return True if `coll` is empty"
@@ -250,7 +250,7 @@
 
 (defn interleave [&rest seqs]
   "Return an iterable of the first item in each of seqs, then the second etc."
-  (chain.from-iterable (apply zip seqs)))
+  (chain.from-iterable (zip #* seqs)))
 
 (defn interpose [item seq]
   "Return an iterable of the elements of seq separated by item"
@@ -275,7 +275,7 @@
    set of arguments and collects the results into a list."
   (setv fs (cons f fs))
   (fn [&rest args &kwargs kwargs]
-    (list-comp (apply f args kwargs) [f fs])))
+    (list-comp (f #* args #** kwargs) [f fs])))
 
 (defn last [coll]
   "Return last item from `coll`"
@@ -285,7 +285,7 @@
   "Return a dotted list construed from the elements of the argument"
   (if (not tl)
     hd
-    (cons hd (apply list* tl))))
+    (cons hd (list* #* tl))))
 
 (defn macroexpand [form]
   "Return the full macro expansion of form"
@@ -350,8 +350,8 @@
    slices (genexpr (islice (get coll-clones start) start None step)
                    [start (range n)]))
   (if (is fillvalue -sentinel)
-    (apply zip slices)
-    (apply zip-longest slices {"fillvalue" fillvalue})))
+    (zip #* slices)
+    (zip-longest #* slices :fillvalue fillvalue)))
 
 (defn pos? [n]
   "Return true if n is > 0"
diff --git a/hy/core/macros.hy b/hy/core/macros.hy
index 27eadf6..82cf3ae 100644
--- a/hy/core/macros.hy
+++ b/hy/core/macros.hy
@@ -207,7 +207,7 @@
   (setv retval (gensym))
   `(when (= --name-- "__main__")
      (import sys)
-     (setv ~retval (apply (fn [~@args] ~@body) sys.argv))
+     (setv ~retval ((fn [~@args] ~@body) #* sys.argv))
      (if (integer? ~retval)
        (sys.exit ~retval))))