see the light of day

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Verb

see the light of day (third-person singular simple present sees the light of day, present participle seeing the light of day, simple past saw the light of day, past participle seen the light of day)

1. (idiomatic) To appear; to be published or disseminated.
   • 1945 November and December, H. C. Casserley, “Random Reflections on British Locomotive Types—1”, in Railway Magazine, page 357:

     True, the "Kings" seem capable amply of performing all that is required of them, but as it is now 18 years since the class first saw the light of day, it is perhaps hardly premature to anticipate a new express design from the G.W.R. within a not too long period.

   • 2025 November 26, Sir Michael Holden, “Good and bad in the Bill”, in RAIL, number 1049, page 15:

     We have waited a very long time for the Railways Bill to see the light of day. The starting gun was fired as long ago as May 2021, when the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail was finally published, after its own gestation period of nearly three years.

2. (idiomatic) To be realised.

   Many projects were planned and started, but none saw the light of day.

Translations

appear; be realised

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 出現 / 出现 (zh) (chūxiàn) (to appear), 誕生 / 诞生 (zh) (dànshēng) (to come into being), 實現 / 实现 (zh) (shíxiàn) (to realize), 問世 / 问世 (zh) (wènshì) (to be published)

• Finnish: nähdä päivänvalo
• French: voir le jour (fr)
• German: das Licht der Welt erblicken (de)
• Greek: βλέπω το φως (vlépo to fos)
• Hungarian: napvilágot lát, megvalósul (hu), megszületik (hu), valóra válik (hu)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: se dagens lys

• Polish: ujrzeć światło dzienne (pl) pf
• Romanian: vedea lumina zilei
• Russian: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: ver la luz del día

See also

• see daylight
• see the light