noun

• (historical) A merchant guild, particularly the Fellowship of London Merchants (the "Old Hanse") given a monopoly on London's foreign trade by the Normans or its successor, the Company of Merchant Adventurers (the "New Hanse"), incorporated in 1497 and chartered under Henry VII and Elizabeth I.
• (historical) The rights and privileges of such guilds, particularly their trade monopolies.
• (historical) A commercial association of Scottish free burghs in the Middle Ages.
• (historical) The Hanseatic League: a commercial association of German towns in the Middle Ages.

noun

• (historical) Alternative form of Hanse, a merchant guild or a former commercial league of German cities.
  "The town does not seem to have had a hanse, nor have there been discovered any records showing the existence of medieval trade guilds; […]"
• (historical) The guildhall of a Hanse.
• (historical) A fee payable to the Hanse, particularly its entrance fee and the impost levied on non-members trading in its area.

noun

• (architecture) That part of an elliptical or many-centred arch which has the shorter radius and immediately adjoins the impost.
  "Now Workmen call each End of these Arches the Hanse, which Hanses are always the Arches of smaller Circles than the Scheme, which is the middle Part of these Arches, and consists of a Part of a larger Circle […]"