diff --git a/include/qemu/option.h b/include/qemu/option.h
index ba197cddcf2ced115ecfbbaea340d77672515e9b..bdb6d218b435fab78407da888a54f26457f7f54e 100644
--- a/include/qemu/option.h
+++ b/include/qemu/option.h
@@ -149,6 +149,7 @@ void qemu_opts_set_defaults(QemuOptsList *list, const char *params,
 QemuOpts *qemu_opts_from_qdict(QemuOptsList *list, const QDict *qdict,
                                Error **errp);
 QDict *qemu_opts_to_qdict(QemuOpts *opts, QDict *qdict);
+void qemu_opts_absorb_qdict(QemuOpts *opts, QDict *qdict, Error **errp);
 
 typedef int (*qemu_opts_loopfunc)(QemuOpts *opts, void *opaque);
 int qemu_opts_print(QemuOpts *opts, void *dummy);
diff --git a/util/qemu-option.c b/util/qemu-option.c
index 5a1d03c3313466619af9db2d5936b97f6719aca0..8b74bf1f7a24f512c08392687678067c3617c18b 100644
--- a/util/qemu-option.c
+++ b/util/qemu-option.c
@@ -1066,6 +1066,40 @@ QemuOpts *qemu_opts_from_qdict(QemuOptsList *list, const QDict *qdict,
     return opts;
 }
 
+/*
+ * Adds all QDict entries to the QemuOpts that can be added and removes them
+ * from the QDict. When this function returns, the QDict contains only those
+ * entries that couldn't be added to the QemuOpts.
+ */
+void qemu_opts_absorb_qdict(QemuOpts *opts, QDict *qdict, Error **errp)
+{
+    const QDictEntry *entry, *next;
+
+    entry = qdict_first(qdict);
+
+    while (entry != NULL) {
+        Error *local_err = NULL;
+        OptsFromQDictState state = {
+            .errp = &local_err,
+            .opts = opts,
+        };
+
+        next = qdict_next(qdict, entry);
+
+        if (find_desc_by_name(opts->list->desc, entry->key)) {
+            qemu_opts_from_qdict_1(entry->key, entry->value, &state);
+            if (error_is_set(&local_err)) {
+                error_propagate(errp, local_err);
+                return;
+            } else {
+                qdict_del(qdict, entry->key);
+            }
+        }
+
+        entry = next;
+    }
+}
+
 /*
  * Convert from QemuOpts to QDict.
  * The QDict values are of type QString.