(1):

(a.) Obstinate in disobedience; contumacious; 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.) OPottery) A piece of ware covered with a vaporable flux and placed in a kiln, to communicate a glaze to the other articles.

(4):

(n.) Refractoriness.

(5):

(n.) A refractory person.