diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 38bee45..08bd361 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 [package]
 name = "publicsuffix"
 description = "A robust and reliable library for parsing domain names"
-version = "1.1.0"
+version = "1.2.0"
 license = "MIT/Apache-2.0"
 repository = "https://github.com/rushmorem/publicsuffix"
 documentation = "https://docs.rs/publicsuffix"
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index aab399f..16247a5 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ Add this crate to your `Cargo.toml`:
 
 ```toml
 [dependencies.publicsuffix]
-version = "1.1"
+version = "1.2"
 
 # This crate exposes the methods `List::fetch` and `List::from_url` as a
 # feature named "remote_list". This feature is on by default. If you have
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index ddba365..a2fa26f 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -152,6 +152,12 @@ impl<'a> IntoUrl for &'a str {
     }
 }
 
+impl<'a> IntoUrl for &'a String {
+    fn into_url(self) -> Result<Url> {
+        Ok(Url::parse(self)?)
+    }
+}
+
 impl IntoUrl for String {
     fn into_url(self) -> Result<Url> {
         Ok(Url::parse(&self)?)
@@ -327,12 +333,31 @@ impl List {
     }
 
     /// Extracts Host from a URL
-    pub fn parse_url(&self, url: &str) -> Result<Host> {
-        match Url::parse(url)?.host_str() {
+    pub fn parse_url<U: IntoUrl>(&self, url: U) -> Result<Host> {
+        match url.into_url()?.host_str() {
             Some(host) => self.parse_host(host),
             None => Err(ErrorKind::NoHost.into()),
         }
     }
+
+    /// Parses any arbitrary string
+    ///
+    /// Effectively this means that the string is either a URL or a host.
+    pub fn parse_str(&self, string: &str) -> Result<Host> {
+        if string.contains("//") {
+            if string.starts_with("//") {
+                // If a string starts with `//` it might be a protocol
+                // relative URL. Since we really do not care about the
+                // protocol anyway, let's just assume it's `https` to
+                // give it a fair chance with `Url::parse`.
+                self.parse_url(&format!("https:{}", string))
+            } else {
+                self.parse_url(string)
+            }
+        } else {
+            self.parse_host(string)
+        }
+    }
 }
 
 impl Host {
diff --git a/src/tests.rs b/src/tests.rs
index c6ff8ae..0729d93 100644
--- a/src/tests.rs
+++ b/src/tests.rs
@@ -220,5 +220,20 @@ fn list_behaviour() {
             assert!(list.parse_url("https://127.38.53.247:8080/list/").unwrap().is_ip());
             pass!()
         });
+
+        ctx.it("can be parsed from a standard URL using `parse_str`", || {
+            assert!(list.parse_str("https://127.38.53.247:8080/list/").unwrap().is_ip());
+            pass!()
+        });
+
+        ctx.it("can be parsed from a protocol-relative URL using `parse_str`", || {
+            assert!(list.parse_str("//127.38.53.247:8080/list/").unwrap().is_ip());
+            pass!()
+        });
+
+        ctx.it("can be parsed from a non-URL using `parse_str`", || {
+            assert!(list.parse_str("example.com").unwrap().is_domain());
+            pass!()
+        });
     });
 }