·noun A refractory person.
II. Refractory ·noun Refractoriness.
III. Refractory ·adj Obstinate in disobedience; contumacious; stubborn; unmanageable; as, a refractory child; a refractory beast.
IV. Refractory ·noun OPottery) A piece of ware covered with a vaporable flux and placed in a kiln, to communicate a glaze to the other articles.
V. Refractory ·adj 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.