addle-cove, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

addle-cove n.

[SE addle, to confuse + cove n. (1); the sl. synon. of SE addle-pate or addle-head; Partridge claims late 18C but offers no proof; not in Grose, Egan, Hotten]

(US) a fool; a novice.

1859		Matsell Vocabulum.
1881		N.Y. Sl. Dict.
1882		Breckenridge News (Cloveport, KY) 23 Aug. 3/3: I’m a ‘Abraham-cove,’ p[lease yer honor. [...] A Abraham-cove, a ‘addle-cove,’ and a ‘hickjop’.
1885		‘Lela’ in Maitland Mercury (Aus./NSW) 31 Mar. 2/2: In the rear of the house one of the gang of banditti strode up to him. ‘Ye ain’t such an addle cove as to git egag cause you amputated the bandog and beat the scorn, are ye?’.
1960		(con. 1950-1960) R.A. Freeman Dict. Inmate Sl. (Walla Walla, WA) 2: Addle-cove – a foolish person; a brittle-brain; a nitwit.