Within hierarchical triple stellar systems, there exists a tidal
process unique to them, known as tertiary tides. In this process,
the tidal deformation of a tertiary in a hierarchical triple drains
energy from the inner binary, causing the inner binary’s orbit to
shrink. Previous work has uncovered the rate at which tertiary
tides drain energy from inner binaries, as a function of orbital
and tidal parameters, for hierarchical triples in which the orbits
are all circular and coplanar. However, not all hierarchical triples
have orbits which are circular and coplanar, which requires an
understanding of what happens when this condition is relaxed.
In this paper, we study how eccentricities affect tertiary tides,
and their influence on the subsequent dynamical evolution of the
host hierarchical triple. We find that eccentricities in the outer
orbit undergo tidal circularisation quickly, and are therefore trivial,
but that eccentricities in the inner binary completely change the
behaviour of tertiary tides, draining energy from the outer orbit as
well as the inner orbit. Empirical functions that approximate this
behaviour are provided for ease of implementing this process in
other stellar evolution codes, and the implications of these results
are discussed.