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Harry my flippant reply was in response to BadBilly's comment which I felt was rather condescending to those who don't routinely use dictionaries while reading. I don't really pity those who use a dictionary - hence the smiley poking out its tongue.
I appreciate that there are many people who love nothing better than reading books full of obscure words however if I can't work out the meaning of a word from its context then I do question its use. Adjectives are difficult in a single usage but are you certain that the shape of this character's head is not described elsewhere in the book? There is the hint of "heavy-looking" in the same sentence but I would expect references to his height, long limbs, lankiness or perhaps the incongruity of a long head on a short fat body? If the character is important I would assume that his physical appearance (expecially if it were abnormal or unusual) would be alluded to more than once. If the character is minor and the shape of his head is not an integral part of the story then who cares?
But that's just me...
FYI you picked the worst possible word to challenge me - I have a degree in Medical Science and so I know that dolicho means long - it's used to describe several parts of the body that are longer than what is considered normal. Cephalic is in more common use so I would expect many if not most people to know it refers to the head. Put the two together and you have a long head.
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