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Entry 5 senses · 2 variants Webster, 1913

Refractory

/(-r?)/ · Re·frac·to·ry · IPA /ɹɪˈfɹæk.təɹ.i/
01 a. Obstinate in disobedience; contumacious; stubborn; unmanageable; as, a refractory child; a refractory beast.
  1. 1.
    Obstinate in disobedience; contumacious; stubborn; unmanageable; as, a refractory child; a refractory beast.
    “Raging appetites that are Most disobedient and refractory.” — Shak.
  2. 2.
    Resisting ordinary treatment; difficult of fusion, reduction, or the like; -- said especially of metals and the like, which do not readily yield to heat, or to the hammer; as, a refractory ore.
Syn. Perverse; contumacious; unruly; stubborn; obstinate; unyielding; ungovernable; unmanageable.
02 n. A refractory person.
  1. 1.
    A refractory person.
  2. 2.
    Refractoriness.[Obs.]
  3. 3.
    OPottery) A piece of ware covered with a vaporable flux and placed in a kiln, to communicate a glaze to the other articles.