The article describes the main meanings of the polysemantic verb ‘to live' in the quotidian Russian of the XVIXVII centuries, verbalized at the level of a syntagma. Defined meanings that form the conceptual core of the verb and are specific to a given period as a reflection of the fragment of the world language picture of that era are marked out. In addition, one can trace the development of abstract meanings and the dynamics of the semantic structure of the word in subsequent time periods.