alpenstock

[ al-puhn-stok ]

noun

1. a strong staff with an iron point, used by mountain climbers.

alpenstock

/ ˈælpənˌstɒk /

noun

1. an early form of ice axe, consisting of a stout stick with an iron tip and sometimes having a pick and adze at the head, formerly used by mountain climbers

Word History and Origins

Origin of alpenstock¹

1820–30; < German, equivalent to Alpen Alps + Stock staff

Word History and Origins

Origin of alpenstock¹

C19: from German, from Alpen Alps + Stock stick ¹

Example Sentences

Brooks himself reads as the opposite of acrophobic: scaling the icy pinnacles of Hollywood without anything more than a pang of self-doubt, using humor as his alpenstock.

From New York Times

Piled in a corner, his hiking gear—boots, alpenstock, leather knapsack.

From Literature

Following closely behind them perhaps there would have strode a professional pilgrim, supporting himself on a stout knobbed staff shod like an alpenstock and weighed down with blessed medals, relics, shells, vernicles and so forth.

From Literature

So I crawled out and unrolled myself, to see if my limbs were still there, for they were so benumbed that I was hardly conscious of their existence, and then straightening myself out, and taking a long bamboo reed, which is light and strong, lithe and springy, for an alpenstock, I started off with my companions.

From Project Gutenberg

But the rest shout “Excelsior,” take a firmer grasp of alpenstock, stamp feet more vehemently into the snow, and with dogged perseverance move step by step up the final height.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• cane
• crutch