"жил-был" meaning in Russian

{
  "etymology_text": "A pluperfect construction using жил (žil, “lived”) and был (byl, “had, was”), which is nonstandard in the current language.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "žil-byl",
      "tags": [
        "romanization"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "жила-была",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "жило-было",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "жилъ-былъ",
      "roman": "žil-byl",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "ru",
        "2": "verb form",
        "3": "feminine",
        "4": "жила-была",
        "5": "neuter",
        "6": "жило-было"
      },
      "expansion": "жил-был • (žil-byl) (feminine жила-была, neuter жило-было)",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Russian",
  "lang_code": "ru",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "48 52",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "form_of": [
        {
          "extra": "žitʹ",
          "word": "жить"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "masculine singular pluperfect indicative imperfective of жить (žitʹ)"
      ],
      "id": "en-жил-был-ru-verb-FBF9NfPp",
      "links": [
        [
          "жить",
          "жить#Russian"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(ungrammatical) masculine singular pluperfect indicative imperfective of жить (žitʹ)"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "form-of",
        "imperfective",
        "indicative",
        "masculine",
        "misconstruction",
        "pluperfect",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "48 52",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "33 67",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "29 71",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Russian entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "once upon a time"
      ],
      "id": "en-жил-был-ru-verb-cc~m2v9n",
      "links": [
        [
          "once upon a time",
          "once upon a time"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(in the plural) once upon a time"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "in-plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "[ˌʐɨɫ ˈbɨɫ]"
    }
  ],
  "word": "жил-был"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Russian entries with incorrect language header",
    "Russian non-lemma forms",
    "Russian terms with IPA pronunciation",
    "Russian verb forms"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "A pluperfect construction using жил (žil, “lived”) and был (byl, “had, was”), which is nonstandard in the current language.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "žil-byl",
      "tags": [
        "romanization"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "жила-была",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "жило-было",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "жилъ-былъ",
      "roman": "žil-byl",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "ru",
        "2": "verb form",
        "3": "feminine",
        "4": "жила-была",
        "5": "neuter",
        "6": "жило-было"
      },
      "expansion": "жил-был • (žil-byl) (feminine жила-была, neuter жило-было)",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Russian",
  "lang_code": "ru",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "form_of": [
        {
          "extra": "žitʹ",
          "word": "жить"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "masculine singular pluperfect indicative imperfective of жить (žitʹ)"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "жить",
          "жить#Russian"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(ungrammatical) masculine singular pluperfect indicative imperfective of жить (žitʹ)"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "form-of",
        "imperfective",
        "indicative",
        "masculine",
        "misconstruction",
        "pluperfect",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "once upon a time"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "once upon a time",
          "once upon a time"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(in the plural) once upon a time"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "in-plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "[ˌʐɨɫ ˈbɨɫ]"
    }
  ],
  "word": "жил-был"
}