Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

491 results found

Davis, Miles

(Encyclopedia)Davis, Miles, 1926–91, American jazz musician, b. Alton, Ill. Rising to prominence with the birth of modern jazz in the mid-1940s, when he was a sideman in Charlie Parker's bop quintet, Davis became...

Coverdale, Miles

(Encyclopedia)Coverdale, Miles, 1488–1569, b. Yorkshire. English translator of the Bible, educated at Cambridge. Coverdale was ordained (1514) and entered the house of Augustinian friars at Cambridge. After devel...

Standish, Miles

(Encyclopedia)Standish, Miles or Myles, c.1584–1656, American colonist, b. England. After serving as a soldier for a number of years, Standish accompanied the Pilgrims to America on the Mayflower (1620) and was r...

Davis

(Encyclopedia)Davis, city (2020 pop. 66,850), Yolo co., central Calif.; settled in the 1850s, inc. 1917. It is an education center with light industry; machinery, pro...

Miles, Nelson Appleton

(Encyclopedia)Miles, Nelson Appleton, 1839–1925, American army officer, b. near Westminster, Mass. In 1861, at the outbreak of the Civil War, he left his job in a Boston store and organized a company of volunteer...

Davis, Al

(Encyclopedia)Davis, Al (Allen Davis), 1929–2011, American football executive, b. Brockton, Mass. After coaching mainly college teams in the 1950s, he was (1960–62) a coach with the Los Angeles, then San Diego,...

Davis, Bette

(Encyclopedia)Davis, Bette bĕtˈē [key], 1908–89, American film actress, b. Lowell, Mass., as Ruth Elizabeth Davis. One of the most durable stars of the American screen, she made her debut in 1931. With a strik...

Davis, Chuck

(Encyclopedia)Davis, Chuck (Charles Rudolph Davis), 1937–2017), American dancer, choreographer, and proponent of African dance, b. Raleigh, N.C. After serving in the navy, Davis studied with Martha Graham, Alvin ...

Davis, David

(Encyclopedia)Davis, David, 1815–86, American jurist, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1862–77), b. Cecil co., Md., grad. Kenyon College, 1832; cousin of Henry Winter Davis. In 1836 he settled as a ...

Davis, Elmer

(Encyclopedia)Davis, Elmer, 1890–1958, American newspaperman, radio commentator, and author, b. Aurora, Ind. Davis was a Rhodes scholar (1910–13) at Oxford. For 10 years (1914–24) he was on the staff of the N...