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plural Quaker guns
(idiomatic, chiefly US, weaponry, historical) A nonfunctional imitation of a gun or an artillery piece, typically made of wood and usually intended to deceive enemy forces into overestimating one's available firepower. quotations
"At all events, your honour, I will carry the quaker in," said Joyce, tossing the stuffed figure on a shoulder. "He do to man the quaker gun at least, and may be of use in frightening some one of the other side."
1843, James Fenimore Cooper, chapter 21, in Wyandotte
The Quaker gun found there was consigned to the flames to-day, and in its stead heavy artillery, of the genuine sort, commands all the surrounding country.
1861 October 4, “The Great Rebellion”, in New York Times, retrieved 30 Oct. 2011