innocent

(as) innocent as a lamb

1. Blameless or faultless. I swear, I didn't pull the fire alarm—I'm innocent as a lamb!
2. Unsophisticated, inexperienced, or gullible. This is her first job—she's as innocent as a lamb.
See also: innocent, lamb

(as) innocent as a newborn babe

1. Blameless or faultless. I swear, I didn't pull the fire alarm—I'm innocent as a newborn babe!
2. Unsophisticated, inexperienced, or gullible. This is her first job—she's as innocent as a newborn babe.
See also: babe, innocent, newborn

find (one) innocent

To determine and declare in court that one is innocent of a crime. I don't know how the jury found him innocent, considering all the evidence against him.
See also: find, innocent

play innocent

To act as if one had no knowledge or involvement in something. He always plays innocent whenever something goes wrong in his department. Quit playing innocent, Dana—we have proof that you're the one who stole from the register.
See also: innocent, play
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

find someone guilty

 and find someone innocent; find someone not guilty
to decide guilt or innocence and deliver a verdict in a court of law. The judge found the defendant not guilty by reason of insanity. The jury found the defendant innocent.
See also: find, guilty

*innocent as a lamb

 and *innocent as a newborn babe 
1. guiltless. (*Also: as ~.) "Hey! You can't throw me in jail," cried the robber. "I'm innocent as a lamb."
2. naive; inexperienced. (*Also: as ~.) She's eighteen years old, but innocent as a newborn babe.
See also: innocent, lamb

play innocent

to pretend to be innocent and not concerned. There is no need to play innocent. I know you broke the lamp! John is playing innocent, and he knows more than he is telling us.
See also: innocent, play
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • (as) innocent as a lamb
  • innocent as a lamb
  • newborn
  • (as) innocent as a newborn babe
  • babe
  • fall off the cabbage truck
  • fall off the turnip truck
  • turnip
  • just fell off the turnip truck
  • greenhorn
References in periodicals archive
6015(f), which Congress intended for cases that do not fit the other two forms of innocent spouse protection: innocent spouse relief and relief by separation of liability.
Innocent spouse relief
Is it really plausible to suppose that he does no wrong in attacking and killing morally innocent victims of his county's aggression?
Killing soldiers
They have shown that in at least four cases almost certainly an innocent person has been executed.
The elephant in the room
The marshals who spoke anonymously offered documents demonstrating that their performance reviews were based directly on producing SDRs--even if by doing so they imperil the rights of innocent Americans they were supposedly hired to protect.
Blacklisting Americans on the quota system
IRC section 6015 grants innocent spouse relief in three instances.
Innocent spouse relief reversed
There exists a principle within the court room that a person is 'innocent if not proven guilty'' in other words, if the prosecution cannot prove a man guilty beyond reasonable doubt then we shall find him innocent.
Letter: A matter of principle
Sermons one and seven, "In the Council of Priests" and "In Synod," reflect a tradition of two such synods being held annually since antiquity "for admonishing the clergy." Sermon two considers "On the Consecration of the Supreme Pontiff," in which Innocent "placed himself in the age-old tradition 'servus servorum Dei' or the Pope as the servant of the servants of God" (16).
Between God & Man. Six Sermons on the Priestly Office
Cobweb Solutions provided a Microsoft Hosted Exchange service which delivers an e-mail service to Innocent Drinks employees based at its Amsterdam, Dublin, and Manchester offices and London 'Fruit Towers' headquarters.
Innocent Drinks selects Cobweb solution
Whether or not Williams and O'Dell were innocent, that unsoundness remains.
Innocence isn't everything
The court noted that eight of the federal circuit courts do not allow Section 107(a) claims unless brought by the government or an "innocent" party.
A little help from the court: the recent Cooper vs. Aviall decision may help insurers with environmental liability claims, but the claims won't go away and adjusters need to know the nuances of the ruling
The manifesto was signed by over 150 public figures, including Ido Netanyahu and Ben-Tzion Netanyahu (the brother and father, respectively, of Israel's former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu), Noam Livnat (brother of Education Minister Limor Livnat), and Meir Har-Zion (Ariel Sharon's legendary comrade-in-arms from Commando Unit 101, who became famous in the 1950s for personally slitting the throats of several innocent Bedouins in revenge for the killing of his sister.
"God wills it!"
Innocent III has long been recognized as a pivotal figure in the history of the medieval church.
Between God and Man: Six Sermons on the Priestly Office
Any well instructed Catholic has had it repeatedly, insistently, persuasively, winsomely, lovingly put on his or her conscience that we have a moral obligation to positively protect innocent human life."
Abortion and "proportionate reasons"
Liz, we learn is an innocent, this despite a lifetime of being around horses, and being mature enough to have completed a degree in veterinary medicine.
Winning Ways