Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Refractory

Refractory (-r?) , adjective

[Latin refractorius, from refringere: compare French refractaire. See Refract.]

1.
Obstinate in disobedience; contumacious; stubborn; unmanageable; as, a refractory child; a refractory beast.
Raging appetites that are Most disobedient and refractory. — Shakespeare
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.

Refractory , noun

1.
A refractory person. — Bp. Hall
2.
Refractoriness. [Obsolete] — Jer. TAylor
3.
OPottery) A piece of ware covered with a vaporable flux and placed in a kiln, to communicate a glaze to the other articles. — Knight