Refractory /(-r?)/

Re·frac·to·ry

Refractory

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

n.
  1. A refractory person.
  2. Refractoriness. [Obs.]
  3. OPottery) A piece of ware covered with a vaporable flux and placed in a kiln, to communicate a glaze to the other articles.