While it can mean "for a short time" or "once" as Jack pointed out, you're probably asking this question because you've encountered it in a different context, one that doesn't make sense to English speakers. "出去一下" is no stretch of the imagination for an English speaker because English shares the same expression: "go out for a bit."
However, Chinese will use this in instances when the English language would otherwise imply brevity, for example: "你吃一下你的牛排。" Why would you eat your steak for a while? It's a steak. You either eat it, or you don't. So when you encounter "一下" and it seems nonsensical, just remember: it's Chinese. :D