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refractory |
3 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: 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. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: 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. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: refractory adj 1: resistant to authority or control; "as refractory as a mule" 2: (med) 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}] n : material with a high melting point that is used to line the inside walls of a furnace [syn: {furnace lining}]
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