ullage

ull•age (UHL-ij)  n

Definition:
1. the amount by which the contents fall short of filling a container, as a cask or bottle
2. the quantity of wine, liquor, or the like, remaining in a container that has lost part of its contents by evaporation, leakage, or use
3. the volume of a loaded tank of liquid propellant in excess of the volume of the propellant; the space provided for thermal expansion of the propellant and the accumulation of gases evolved from it

ullaged adjective

Origin:

The word comes ultimately from the Latin oculus, “eye”, which was used in a figurative sense by the Romans for the bung hole of a barrel. This was taken into French in the medieval period as oeil, from which a verb ouiller was created, to fill a barrel up to the bung hole. In turn, a noun ouillage was created, which was the immediate source of our word, first recorded in Norman English about 1300, at first in the sense of the amount of liquid needed to fill a barrel up to the bung hole.
By an obvious extension, ullage came to refer to any amount by which a barrel is unfilled, perhaps because some of the contents have been used. And it is also applied to the unfilled air space at the top of a bottle of wine, which in this case is essential to allow for expansion of the contents as the temperature changes.

Related:
Related Words: oeillade “an oogling stare, an amorous gaze”

Sentence Examples:
• In the lowest cellars reserved wine in cask is stored, as it best retains its natural freshness and purity in a very cool place. All air is carefully excluded from the casks, any ullage is immediately checked, and as evaporation is continually going on the casks are examined every fortnight, when any deficiency is at once replenished.

• "At all events, I'm not ashamed to look mine enemy in the face—so hand us out the bottle."
Moonshine put the bottle on the table.
"Now, Bob," said Cockle, "what d'ye say to a seven bell-er? Why, hallo! what's become of all the grog?"
"All drank last night, Massa Cockle," replied Moonshine.
"Now, you ebony thief, I'll swear that there was half a bottle left when I took my last glass; for I held the bottle up to the candle to ascertain the ullage."
-Olla Podrida, Frederick Marryat

The Storyline
This was definitely shaping up to be one of those days that is more ullage than wine.

Why This Word:
We may not think much about the empty space in a bottle or container for liquids, but judging from my search results, engineers sure do.
I like this word for two reasons. Firstly, it's an interesting example of language change. Ullage went from the hole, the "eye", in cask, to the amount of wine it took to fill the cask to the hole, to the amount of space left in the cask above the hole, to the amount generally of empty space in a closed vessel for liquids. Thus the word for the empty space in a wine bottle is related to the words monocle and binocular. See?
Secondly, like kerf, another word for what isn't there, and limen, a word for the space in between, it's a word ripe with untapped metaphorical meaning. Ullage is empty space, but it's purposeful empty space.

Sources: Dictionary.com, Wikipedia

Word-E: A Word-A-Day

kerf

kerf (kurf) \ˈkərf\

Definition
n
1. a cut or incision made by a saw, an ax or the like in a piece of wood (or metal)
2. the width of cut made by a saw or the like
3. (mining) a deep cut a few inches high, used to undermine a portion of a coal or mineral seam
4. a stroke with a weapon
v
to make a kerf or kerfs

Related
Synonyms: chip, hack, indent, indentation, indenture, notch, nick
Related Words: carve

Examples
• When the kerf is well started, the whole weight of the saw may be applied. An easy light stroke is better than a furious one.
• Wood was dirt cheap in mid-19th-century America. So we made fast saws with a wide kerf -- like half an inch. Then we choked on the resulting sawdust.

The Storyline
... his face pressed against the kerfs in the wood frame left by the ill-advised attempt to cut their way in the last time Tyler and Kurt locked themselves out.

Origin
bef. 1000;  ME kerf, kirf,  OE cyrf  a cutting

Sources: Merriam-Webster, Dictionary.com, Wordnik

Why This Word:
It's a fun little word, kerf. It's also a word with a long history. Cutting things with a saw or an ax is in some ways that moment we became human as a species. We take it for granted today, unless you're a woodworker. But the cut itself, what's taken out, eventually became a significant problem at the point we needed to start to conserve materials and reduce waste. The kerf is an idea that is surprisingly rich in metaphorical implications, if we think about it.  It's what isn't there, what's removed, the cut itself. The kerf is the empty space created in the process of remaking the physical world. And by way of metaphor, there are more possibilities as well: the kerf of a budget cut, or severed relationship. Maybe it's time we started thinking about the kerf once again.

Word-E: A Word-A-Day