unmask one's batteries

Meaning: (idiomatic,dated)Tobeginadecisiveaction, especially one that reveals one’s truestrengthorcharacter.1858,William Harrison Ainsworth,Mervyn Clitheroe, volume 2,page278:“Your father is fond of surprises, as you must have seen,” Cuthbert rejoined. “He won’tunmask his batteriestill all is ready for action.”1877,J. H. Merle d’Aubigné, translated byWilliam L. R. Cates,History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin, volume 7,pages198–99:The bishops, proud of this first victory, believed that a second would be easily won, and theyunmasked their batteries.1882August 26,Public Opinion, volume42, number1,092,page262:TheEvénément[sic]remarks:—“The Egyptian Question is not a French or an Anglo-French, but a European question, and the spoliation just perpetrated by England, has enlightened Europe in time. It is not wise tounmask one’s batteriestoo soon.”1956, Carlile Aylmer Macartney,October Fifteenth: A History of Modern Hungary, 1929–1945, volume 1,page169:Meanwhile the Germans had shown that they themselves were not yet ready tounmask their batteries.; Used other than figuratively or idiomatically:seeunmask,‎battery.

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