bad for the coo en · ADJ
Etymology
From a remark attributed to railway engineer George Stephenson, said to have been asked what would happen if one of the new steam locomotives ran into a cow, and to have replied that it would be "bad for the coo" (Scots for cow).
Meanings
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(dated, humorous, not-comparable) Harmful to the weaker party in a conflict or collision.
"Boys, you must "make it bad for the coo."
1893, Metal Worker, Plumber and Steam Fitter, page 49:"The accident: well, you remember all about that. An ordinary Central and Suburban passenger train, non-stop at Knight's Cross, ran past the signal and crashed into a crowded electric train that was just beginning to move out. […] For the first time on an English railway there was a good stand-up smash between a heavy steam-engine and a train of light cars, and it was 'bad for the coo.'"
1914, Ernest Bramah, The Knight's Cross Signal Problem:Had the comet which traversed them been of any respectable weight he would have made havoc among them and bouleversed their motions. But it was a case of locomotive and cow, and it was "very bad for the coo."
1872, The Gentleman's Magazine (part 1, page 691)