1. (a.) Obstinate in disobedience; stubborn; unmanageable; as, a refractory child; a refractory beast.

2. (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.

3. (n.) A refractory person.

4. (n.) Refractoriness.

5. (n.) (Pottery) A piece of ware covered with a vaporable flux and placed in a kiln, to communicate a glaze to the other articles.