Definition of "refractory" []

• Obstinately resistant to authority or control. See Synonyms at unruly. (adjective)
• Difficult to melt or work; resistant to heat: a refractory material such as silica. (adjective)
• Resistant to treatment: a refractory case of acne. (adjective)
• One that is refractory. (noun)
• Material that has a high melting point. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "For the purpose of this book the term refractory will cover clays and materials that are suitable to be used in a potter's kiln fired up to"
• "Lou Dobbs, that paragon of choice xenophobic political battles to pick and win, hopped on this “American Otherness” bandwagon like it was the last copter out of Saigon and is riding it for all it's stupidly worth — which is pretty much just huzzahs and dittoes from the scrape-knuckled fucktards who flock to him post-their mid-afternoon Limbaugh-lovin 'refractory period."
• "Within a month, De Courcy heard that the castles were pulled down, and, on his calling his refractory vassal to account, received a truly Irish answer: MacMahon said he had not promised to hold stones, but land, and it was contrary to his nature to couch within cold stones, when the warm woods were so nigh."