diff --git a/lib/prawn/table/cell/text.rb b/lib/prawn/table/cell/text.rb
index 4fed7dd..d2f140e 100644
--- a/lib/prawn/table/cell/text.rb
+++ b/lib/prawn/table/cell/text.rb
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ class Text < Cell
 
         TextOptions = [:inline_format, :kerning, :size, :align, :valign,
           :rotate, :rotate_around, :leading, :single_line, :skip_encoding,
-          :overflow, :min_font_size]
+          :overflow, :min_font_size, :nowrap]
 
         TextOptions.each do |option|
           define_method("#{option}=") { |v| @text_options[option] = v }
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ def set_width_constraints
           # sure we have enough width to be at least one character wide. This is
           # a bit of a hack, but it should work well enough.
           unless defined?(@min_width) && @min_width
-            min_content_width = [natural_content_width, styled_width_of_single_character].min
+            min_content_width = nowrap ? natural_content_width : [natural_content_width, styled_width_of_single_character].min
             @min_width = padding_left + padding_right + min_content_width
             super
           end
@@ -134,7 +134,11 @@ def text_box(extra_options={})
         # Returns the width of +text+ under the given text options.
         #
         def styled_width_of(text)
-          @pdf.width_of(text, @text_options)
+          if text.empty?
+            0
+          else
+            text.lines.collect{|line|@pdf.width_of(line, @text_options)}.max
+          end
         end
 
         private