Quaker Gun Meaning

(chiefly US, idiomatic, military, weaponry) A nonfunctional imitation of a gun or of a piece of artillery, typically made of wood and usually intended to deceive enemy forces into overestimating one's available firepower.

Example: 1843, James Fenimore Cooper, Wyandotte, ch. 21:
  "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."
1861 Oct. 4, "The Great Rebellion," New York Times (retrieved 30 Oct. 2011):
  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.