Ullage has its roots in Anglo-Norman and Latin and in the 15th century when the word meant the volume by which a container is under-filled—that is, the space above the beer. This remains the common usage in the United States, where the headspace in a keg, a cask, or a bottle (for the latter, when beer or wine has leaked or been evaporated out) is referred to as the ullage. It can also describe the lost liquid itself, especially in cases of leakage or evaporation through corks. The definition is somewhat different in the UK, where “ullage” is used to describe several related features associated with the contents of a cask or keg of beer. It can refer to the process of emptying or drawing beer from a cask or keg of beer—that is, a cask that has been opened and is part full. It is also the amount of beer in a cask when it is not full or the volume of liquid and sediment in a cask after all the saleable beer has been removed. The sediment contains beer, finings, dry hop, and yeast residues. Dipsticks (graduated rods used to measure liquids) calibrated for different cask sizes are used to measure the volume of ullage/beer remaining in the cask by inserting them through the hole in the shive. See shive. In the UK, ullage can also describe the beer lost or spilled at the point of dispense.