He had a feeling the scarf was the one he'd really have to watch out for; he couldn't say why. “What if those mercs scope us leaving?”1999, William Gibson, All Tomorrow's Parties (Bridge trilogy; book 3), New York, N.Y.: Viking Press, →ISBN, page 199:
merc
verb
Etymology Clipping of mercenary. For the /k/ compare bike.
When I was 4 years old, my mother saved dimes, mostly Mercury Dimes, and periodically rolled them and took them to the bank. At that age, I once swallowed a Merc as I awoke from a nap after having spilled the contents of my piggy bank on to my bed. I woke up with something in my mouth and half asleep, I swallowed it...painful though it was and I can still remember it vividly 53 years later!2002 October 9, UsterDay72, “Your First Time (on topic :) and long”, in rec.collecting.coins (Usenet), retrieved 03 Jan 2023: