not much cop

not much cop

Not very good; not noteworthy or exceptional at all. Primarily heard in UK. I was really looking forward to the film, but it was not much cop, I'm afraid. I just wasn't much cop as an accountant, so I packed up my career and spent a year travelling abroad.
See also: cop, much, not
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

not much cop

BRITISH, INFORMAL
If someone or something is not much cop, they are of poor quality or not good at something. I gather her latest album isn't much cop. Just as he lacks any genuine talent for public speaking, so he's not much cop as a writer, either. Note: In early twentieth century slang, `cop' meant `value' or `use'.
See also: cop, much, not
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.

not much cop

not very good. British informal
Cop is used here in the sense of ‘an acquisition’.
1998 Spectator Suddenly everyone has noticed that the rest of her album…isn't actually much cop after all.
See also: cop, much, not
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

not much ˈcop

(British English, slang) not very good: ‘What do you think of the book?’ ‘It’s not much cop, really.’
See also: cop, much, not
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • be not much cop
  • not for a second
  • not for a minute
  • not for a moment
  • aint
  • ain't
  • not for a/one minute/moment/second/instant
  • not for a instant
  • by no means
  • not by any means
References in periodicals archive
TO say their relationship is under strain would be like saying Henry VIII was not much cop as a husband.
First recorded in the early 19th century, the origin is probably the northern dialectal verb cop, 'capture, lay hold of ' (hence also 'not much cop', 'not much of a catch' - worth little).
FANS of obscure American new wave music - and there are probably about six who read this column - will recall with some fondness the band Devo, who were great at funny costumes and very good at album titles, but not much cop at tunes.
Not because they're not much cop or too expensive but because they're only available in left-hand drive and having the wheel on the wrong side makes them very difficult to sell.
For a country that's apparently so "broken" by crime, we're not much cop at illustrating this on screen.
I am very disgruntled with the union that I'm in because they're not much cop, they don't back you in any way and when you do have a problem they just sit there.
"Huh," he said with a contemptuous glance towards the book, "that's not much cop."
Allenby, 11th in 2002 and fourth in 2003 (but not much cop since), has hit form at the right time, finishing fourth in theWachovia Championship on Sunday.
The Citroen Visa Club and the Daihatsu Charade XTE came on the market and, according to the Examiner's motoring correspondent Roger Stansfield, they were not much cop. Their prices?
Donald Sutherland has made one of the best horror films of all time in the classic Don't Look Now, and while An American Haunting isn't the worst film ever, it's not much cop. Although it's set nearly two hundred years before, it has a lot of similarities with the recent disappointment that was The Exorcism of Emily Rose.
The other was that feeling of pre-resignation - the view that it will be worth it even if he turns out to be not much cop these days.
The 34-year-old said: "I am a bit stuck without it, I'm not much cop at walking too far at all.
PTHE album's not much cop, but Summer Son, the new single from Texas, is a great wedge of Scot pop.
But not all that surprising, because he's clearly not much cop at his job.
well, actually I can't think of anything else as, let's face it, as a 10-year-old you're not much cop at anything other than eating, sleeping and watching Grease and The Sound of Music over and over again.