Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Refractory \Re*frac"to*ry\, n.
   1. A refractory person. --Bp. Hall.

   2. Refractoriness. [Obs.] --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.

Refractory \Re*frac"to*ry\ (-r?), a. [L. refractorius, fr.
   refringere: cf. F. 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.                           --Shak.

   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.

Source : WordNet®

refractory
     n : lining consisting of material with a high melting point;
         used to line the inside walls of a furnace [syn: {furnace
         lining}]

refractory
     adj 1: resistant to authority or control; "as refractory as a mule"
     2: not responding to treatment; "a stubborn infection"; "a
        refractory case of acne" [syn: {stubborn}]
     3: marked by stubborn resistance to and defiant of authority or
        guidance; "a recalcitrant teenager"; "everything revolves
        around a refractory individual genius" [syn: {recalcitrant}]
     4: stubbornly resistant to authority or control; "a fractious
        animal that would not submit to the harness"; "a
        refractory child" [syn: {fractious}]