Hypertext Webster Gateway: "refractory"
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) 1.7 (wn)
refractory
adj 1: resistant to authority or control; "as refractory as a mule"
2: (medicine) 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 : lining consisting of material with a high melting point;
used to line the inside walls of a furnace [syn: {furnace
lining}]
Additional Hypertext Webster Gateway Lookup
Gateway by dict@stokkie.net
stock only wrote the gateway and does not have any control over the contents;
see the Webster Gateway FAQ,
and also the Back-end/database links and credits.