Definition of refractory

• a. - Obstinate in disobedience; contumacious; stubborn; unmanageable; as, a refractory child; a refractory beast.
• a. - 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.
• n. - A refractory person.
• n. - Refractoriness.
• n. - OPottery) A piece of ware covered with a vaporable flux and placed in a kiln, to communicate a glaze to the other articles.