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babe in the woods

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babe in the woods

A person who is gullible, na?ve, or lacks experience in a specific situation. Although Jane had always excelled in school, she felt like a babe in the woods when she began attending college.

See also: babe, wood

babe in the woods

Fig. a naive or innocent person; an inexperienced person. (Like a child lost in the woods.) Bill is a babe in the woods when it comes to dealing with plumbers. As a painter, Mary is fine, but she's a babe in the woods as a musician.

See also: babe, wood

babe in the woods

An innocent or very naive person who is apt to be duped or victimized, as in She was a babe in the woods where the stock market was concerned. The term originated in a popular ballad of 1595, "The Children in the Wood," about two young orphans who are abandoned in a forest and die.

See also: babe, wood