see the light—
1. (of a book, etc.) be published:
- Christopher Isherwood’s diaries are now at last to see the light.
2. realize one’s mistakes; understand smth. after thinking about it:
- He was waiting for me to beg him to forgive me and tell him that I had seen the light.
3. believe that a difficult part of a situation is finally over:
- Your company is well worth the time and effort we are putting into this program. We can already see the light.
Note: The expression does not fully correlate in meaning with the phrase see the light at the end of the tunnel—(also: see light at the end of the tunnel) = see the light 3:
- An official said he saw light at the end of the tunnel and firefighters said today they welcomed a weekend weather forecast.
see the light of day—
1. = see the light 1:
- I continued to write and publish short stories but it was nearly twenty years before my next book saw the light of day.
2. be born:
- When I was born, the town was on the Czech-German border, now it is on the Czech-Polish border, without moving from where it was when I saw the light of day.