cowp

1. (Scotland, Northern Ireland, slang) A filthy and disgusting place.Examples: "Ladies, please bring a supply of bog roll - Studio One is within the five star (!) Hilton hotel, but the bar itself is a cowp and you never know what to expect in the lavvies..."; "As often is the case with brilliant but single-minded dusty old academics, his brain was a cathedral but his house was a cowp, something Sarah could vouch for, having visited a couple of times."; "The Blarney Stone is a total cowp. The bar is made out of chipped Formica and the constant fug of cheap tobacco smoke just about masks the smell coming from the lavvy."Northern-IrelandScotlandslang

2. (dialect) A reversal of fortune; an unexpected misfortune.Examples: "However, here's our young friend here never heard it, and it will be a treat to her, especially if what they say of young ladies in general be true, that the mischances and misadventures and cowps of us old bachelors are just marrow to their bones."; "It shows man's want o' fore-seet truly, In not considering matters duly, And gives him monie ill-far'd cowps, Whea, gowk-leyke, luiks not 'fore he loups."; "After that, whenever a player won of one who usually beat him, and we asked, "how did you manage it?" the ready reply was, "O, I come a cowp on him." Looking for and executing "cowps" was a source of much amusement at The Morphy."dialectal