Index: lucene/contrib/highlighter/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/highlight/QueryTermScorer.java
===================================================================
--- lucene/contrib/highlighter/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/highlight/QueryTermScorer.java	(revision 1074855)
+++ lucene/contrib/highlighter/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/highlight/QueryTermScorer.java	(working copy)
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@
   /* (non-Javadoc)
    * @see org.apache.lucene.search.highlight.Scorer#init(org.apache.lucene.analysis.TokenStream)
    */
-  public TokenStream init(TokenStream tokenStream) {
+  public TokenStream init(TokenStream tokenStream, int maxDocCharsToAnalyze) {
     termAtt = tokenStream.addAttribute(CharTermAttribute.class);
     return null;
   }
Index: lucene/contrib/highlighter/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/highlight/Scorer.java
===================================================================
--- lucene/contrib/highlighter/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/highlight/Scorer.java	(revision 1074855)
+++ lucene/contrib/highlighter/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/highlight/Scorer.java	(working copy)
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@
    *         using the same {@link TokenStream} that was passed in.
    * @throws IOException
    */
-  public TokenStream init(TokenStream tokenStream) throws IOException;
+  public TokenStream init(TokenStream tokenStream, int maxDocCharsToAnalyze) throws IOException;
 
   /**
    * Called when a new fragment is started for consideration.
Index: lucene/contrib/highlighter/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/highlight/Highlighter.java
===================================================================
--- lucene/contrib/highlighter/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/highlight/Highlighter.java	(revision 1074855)
+++ lucene/contrib/highlighter/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/highlight/Highlighter.java	(working copy)
@@ -197,7 +197,7 @@
 	    tokenStream.reset();
 	    
 		TextFragment currentFrag =	new TextFragment(newText,newText.length(), docFrags.size());
-		TokenStream newStream = fragmentScorer.init(tokenStream);
+		TokenStream newStream = fragmentScorer.init(tokenStream, maxDocCharsToAnalyze);
 		if(newStream != null) {
 		  tokenStream = newStream;
 		}
Index: lucene/contrib/highlighter/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/highlight/WeightedSpanTermExtractor.java
===================================================================
--- lucene/contrib/highlighter/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/highlight/WeightedSpanTermExtractor.java	(revision 1074855)
+++ lucene/contrib/highlighter/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/highlight/WeightedSpanTermExtractor.java	(working copy)
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 
 import org.apache.lucene.analysis.CachingTokenFilter;
 import org.apache.lucene.analysis.TokenStream;
+import org.apache.lucene.analysis.tokenattributes.OffsetAttribute;
 import org.apache.lucene.index.IndexReader;
 import org.apache.lucene.index.Term;
 import org.apache.lucene.index.IndexReader.AtomicReaderContext;
@@ -56,6 +57,7 @@
   private boolean expandMultiTermQuery;
   private boolean cachedTokenStream;
   private boolean wrapToCaching = true;
+  private int maxDocCharsToAnalyze;
 
   public WeightedSpanTermExtractor() {
   }
@@ -326,7 +328,7 @@
     AtomicReaderContext context = readers.get(field);
     if (context == null) {
       MemoryIndex indexer = new MemoryIndex();
-      indexer.addField(field, tokenStream);
+      indexer.addField(field, getLimitAnalyzer(tokenStream, maxDocCharsToAnalyze));
       tokenStream.reset();
       IndexSearcher searcher = indexer.createSearcher();
       // MEM index has only atomic ctx
@@ -517,6 +519,36 @@
     
   }
   
+  private TokenStream getLimitAnalyzer(final TokenStream tokenStream, final int limit) {
+    TokenStream ts = new TokenStream(tokenStream){
+      private int cnt;
+      private OffsetAttribute offsetAttrib = getAttribute(OffsetAttribute.class);
+      @Override
+      public boolean incrementToken() throws IOException {
+        cnt += (offsetAttrib.endOffset() - offsetAttrib.startOffset());
+        if (cnt >= limit) {
+          return false;
+        }
+        return tokenStream.incrementToken();
+      }
+    
+      public void end() throws IOException {
+        tokenStream.end();
+      }
+
+      public void reset() throws IOException {
+        tokenStream.reset();
+      }
+      
+      /** Releases resources associated with this stream. */
+      public void close() throws IOException {
+        tokenStream.close();
+      }
+    };
+    
+    return ts;
+  }
+  
   public boolean getExpandMultiTermQuery() {
     return expandMultiTermQuery;
   }
@@ -545,4 +577,8 @@
   public void setWrapIfNotCachingTokenFilter(boolean wrap) {
     this.wrapToCaching = wrap;
   }
+
+  protected final void setMaxDocCharsToAnalyze(int maxDocCharsToAnalyze) {
+    this.maxDocCharsToAnalyze = maxDocCharsToAnalyze;
+  }
 }
Index: lucene/contrib/highlighter/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/highlight/QueryScorer.java
===================================================================
--- lucene/contrib/highlighter/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/highlight/QueryScorer.java	(revision 1074855)
+++ lucene/contrib/highlighter/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/highlight/QueryScorer.java	(working copy)
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@
   private IndexReader reader;
   private boolean skipInitExtractor;
   private boolean wrapToCaching = true;
+  private int maxCharsToAnalyze;
 
   /**
    * @param query Query to use for highlighting
@@ -173,7 +174,8 @@
   /* (non-Javadoc)
    * @see org.apache.lucene.search.highlight.Scorer#init(org.apache.lucene.analysis.TokenStream)
    */
-  public TokenStream init(TokenStream tokenStream) throws IOException {
+  public TokenStream init(TokenStream tokenStream, int maxDocCharsToAnalyze) throws IOException {
+    this.maxCharsToAnalyze = maxDocCharsToAnalyze;
     position = -1;
     termAtt = tokenStream.addAttribute(CharTermAttribute.class);
     posIncAtt = tokenStream.addAttribute(PositionIncrementAttribute.class);
@@ -209,7 +211,7 @@
   private TokenStream initExtractor(TokenStream tokenStream) throws IOException {
     WeightedSpanTermExtractor qse = defaultField == null ? new WeightedSpanTermExtractor()
         : new WeightedSpanTermExtractor(defaultField);
-
+    qse.setMaxDocCharsToAnalyze(maxCharsToAnalyze);
     qse.setExpandMultiTermQuery(expandMultiTermQuery);
     qse.setWrapIfNotCachingTokenFilter(wrapToCaching);
     if (reader == null) {
Index: lucene/contrib/highlighter/src/test/org/apache/lucene/search/highlight/HighlighterTest.java
===================================================================
--- lucene/contrib/highlighter/src/test/org/apache/lucene/search/highlight/HighlighterTest.java	(revision 1074855)
+++ lucene/contrib/highlighter/src/test/org/apache/lucene/search/highlight/HighlighterTest.java	(working copy)
@@ -1274,7 +1274,7 @@
         return 1;
       }
 
-      public TokenStream init(TokenStream tokenStream) {
+      public TokenStream init(TokenStream tokenStream, int maxCharsToAnalyze) {
         return null;
       }
     });