In Britain, a redbrick university is one of the universities that were established in large cities outsideLondon in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as opposed to much older universitiessuch as Oxford and Cambridge.
redbrick in British English
(ˈrɛdˌbrɪk)
noun
(modifier)
denoting, relating to, or characteristic of a provincial British university of relatively recent foundation, esp as distinguished from Oxford and Cambridge
redbrick in American English
(ˈrɛdˌbrɪk) or ˈred-ˌbrick (ˈrɛdˌbrɪk)
adjective
1.
designating or of a British university or college other than Oxford or Cambridge; esp., any of the newer ones in the provinces
often connoting social inferiority
noun
2.
a redbrick university or college
Word origin
from the typical building material (in contrast to the stone of Oxford and Cambridge)
Examples of 'redbrick' in a sentence
redbrick
Rebecca walks on, out of the garden, down the lamplit road, past the redbrick walls of the Heath boundary, and onto the Heath extension.
Sean Thomas THE CHEEK PERFORATION DANCE (2002)
What villages she passed through were no more than mean assemblages of bungalows and the odd row of redbrick terraces.
Peter Robinson AFTERMATH (2002)
It was a small detached residence built of redbrick and sandstone, between a plot of allotments and a row of shops.
Peter Robinson AFTERMATH (2002)
Richard leaned against the redbrick wall and read, the outside world closed off, the indignities of changing rooms forgotten.