[mod.Ger.; Alpen (gen. pl.) of the Alps + stock stick.] A long staff pointed with iron, used in climbing the Alps, whence it has passed into general use in mountain climbing.
1829. C. Latrobe, The Alpenstock; or Sketches of Swiss Scenery, Advt. 5. The Alpenstock is the name of the long iron-spiked pole, in common use on the Alps, in the hands of the chamois-hunter and the pedestrian traveller.
1871. Tyndall, Fragm. Sci. (ed. 6), I. vii. 232. The handle of a pitchfork doing, in my case, the duty of an alpenstock.
