Green’s Dictionary of Slang

Plymouth cloak n.

a cudgel.

1608		Dekker Honest Whore Pt 2 (1630) III ii: Shall I walke in a Plimouth Cloake, (that’s to say) like a rogue, in my hose and doublet, and a crabtree cudgell in my hand?
1625		Massinger New Way to Pay Old Debts I i: And I must tell you if you but aduance, Your plimworth cloke, you shall be soone instructed .
1631		F. Lenton Characterismi 30: Reserving still the embleme of a souldier (his sword) and a Plimouth cloake, otherwise call’d a battoone .
1647		New Merry Letany 2: From being cover’d with a Plimouth Cloake [...] Libera nos.
1662		Fuller Worthies (1840) I 399: A Plymouth Cloak. That is a Cane or a Staffe, whereof this the occasion. Many a man of good extraction, comming home from far Voiages, may chance to land here, and being out of sorts, is unable for the present time and place to recruit himself with Cloaths. Here (if not friendly provided) they make the next Wood their Drapers shop, where a Staffe cut out, serves them for a covering.